YOUNGSTOWN Traffic stop turns up missing court file

The suspect has been on probation since March.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A file stolen in May from Mahoning County court in Boardman that contains Melvin T. Dixon Jr.'s driving under suspension case was found during a traffic stop.
Dixon, 19, of East Indianola Avenue, was arrested Tuesday at the Salt Springs exit of Interstate 680 and charged with DUS. He was expected to be arraigned today in municipal court.
Detective Sgt. Mark Wollet had pulled over a 1998 Ford without license plates and questioned the woman driver. Just then, she pointed to a 1989 Oldsmobile going by and said, "That's Melvin Dixon, he owns this car."
The woman then fished for proof of insurance for the Ford and inadvertently handed over to Wollet the Boardman court papers, which included a subpoena for the Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper who had charged Dixon with DUS in May. Wollet called the trooper who, in turn, called Margaret Mico, clerk of court in Boardman.
Dixon, meanwhile, walked up the freeway ramp on Salt Springs and approached Wollet and Patrolman Jimmy Rounds. Dixon denied driving but police located the 1989 Oldsmobile nearby on Oneta Avenue.
Reports show he told the officers that the court in Boardman "lost my papers and I am waiting to hear from them."
Charges in Boardman
The arrest in Youngstown led to charges in Boardman of tampering with records and theft of legal papers, Mico said today. He will be arraigned on those charges Thursday.
Mico said Dixon's license was suspended in August 2001 and again in January for failure to have insurance. The DUS from May is still pending.
Dixon walked out with the Boardman case file on May 29, the day he was arraigned, Mico said. He was given the file in court that day and told to bring it to the clerk's office so that a release could be issued for items in the car that had been impounded.
Mico said he handed over the court-ordered release but kept the entire file.
The file wasn't discovered missing until July 17, when Dixon was due in Boardman court for his DUS trial. Mico said the trial was put on hold while she began the process of receiving duplicate documents to recreate the file.
In March, Dixon was convicted in Youngstown Municipal Court of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle. The charge was reduced from carrying a concealed weapon, a felony.
Judge Robert P. Milich sentenced Dixon to 90 days in jail, suspended 85 and gave him credit for five days served in jail. The judge also placed Dixon on one year's probation.
meade@vindy.com