BOARDMAN Rash of thefts and burglaries strikes township during weekend

Police are still investigating most of the thefts.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Township police are investigating an unusually high number of thefts after thieves and burglars took to stores, parking lots and homes here over the weekend.
There were 33 crimes involving theft or burglary in the township Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Five arrests were made in those crimes.
Capt. Jack Nichols said the large number of people lured to stores in the township provide ample opportunity for those with less-than-honorable intentions.
"This is a target-rich environment," he said. "There is just a lot of opportunity here for theft."
Several stores fell victim to petty theft, but thieves tried to pocket larger items as well.
What was taken
Dwayne E. Scott was arrested Saturday afternoon in Youngstown after police alleged he drove away from Home Depot on South Avenue with $381 worth of stolen fence material.
Someone broke into Rainbow Comics and Cards store on Market Street on Friday and stole an undisclosed amount of cash. Caffe Capri restaurant on Market Street was also burglarized, and $200 in cash was taken.
The owner of a Market Street barbershop told police someone took a barber pole worth $595 from outside the business Friday night.
A motorized-wheelchair shopping cart worth $3,000 was reported missing from Giant Eagle on Friday morning, and $6,700 worth of yard equipment was taken from a West Boulevard storage unit.
Cases at homes
Four homes also were burglarized over the weekend. A $1,000 ring was reported missing from a Maranatha Street home Saturday evening. Also taken was $500 from a Forestridge Drive home Sunday, and a Turnberry Drive home was burglarized, but nothing was listed as missing.
Police arrested Lisa Price, 22, and John A. Morris Jr., 27, both of Youngstown, in a Southern Boulevard burglary. Reports say $2,300 was found missing from that home.
Nichols said all township residents should remember to take the necessary steps with lighting and appropriate locks to make their homes as safe as possible.
He said residents should call police if someone knocks at their door and asks for someone who does not live at the address. Potential thieves, he said, use this method to see if anyone is inside the home.
Purses stolen
A woman reported her purse stolen Saturday after it was taken out of a shopping cart in Wal-Mart on Doral Drive. Another woman reported her wallet stolen out of her purse in the parking lot of Gabriel Brothers on U.S. Route 224, and a purse was stolen while a woman pumped gas into her car at the Shell Gas Station on Glenwood Ave.
Police say it is important not to place purses in shopping carts while shopping. Any woman carrying a purse while shopping, they say, should keep her wallet, cash and credit cards in a pants pocket instead of the purse.
There were also license plates, gas, cigarettes and cash stolen across the township over the weekend. In one case a Forest Park Place man told police he saw one of his neighbors "passed out on the ground" and saw someone take money from the unconscious person.
The unconscious man was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center, Nichols said. Police arrested a 46-year-old Glenwood Avenue woman who they thought took the $176.
jgoodwin@vindy.com