WARREN Raid targets wrong house

The task force coordinator said he doesn't believe the officers acted improperly.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Joseph Goetz was jolted out of bed early one morning by banging at his front and back doors. As he reached for a phone to call police, the door was forced open and a gun was put to his head.
It was the police.
"I had no idea what was going on or who these people were," said Goetz, of Atlantic Street. "My wife and I were scared to death."
The officers did not identify themselves, but Goetz said he saw the words Mahoning County Sheriff's Department on one of the men's shirts. Neither he nor his wife recalls being shown any type of warrant.
"They made us stay in the kitchen when they searched the house," Goetz said. "I was worried because I have two small children that were sleeping upstairs."
A local resident, driving by the house around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, videotaped the activity. The videotape shows several cruisers in the driveway and on the street. Two of the vehicles were Warren city cruisers.
"We were only assisting," said Capt. Timothy Bowers. "The U.S. Marshals Service asked us to assist. We just set up a perimeter around the home as we usually do when we are assisting other agencies."
Doesn't believe allegations
Lt. Robin Lees, public information officer for the Youngstown Police Department and coordinator for the Gun Reduction Interdiction Project, a task force consisting of local and federal agents, said the law enforcement officials went to the home to serve a felony warrant.
"I have been with these officers when they serve some of these warrants, and I know how they conduct themselves, and it doesn't match with what these people are saying," Lees said. "I don't believe it."
He said the officers had received information that the man wanted on the felony warrant was at the home on Atlantic Street. The house was searched, but the man wasn't located.
Goetz said he and his family moved into the home about six weeks ago. He said the officials may have been looking for a person who lived there before they did.
"The officers kept shouting the name Tom," Goetz said. "I told them that no one named Tom lives here."
He added that the back door where officers were pounding is damaged.
Deputy marshal's view
"I talked to a deputy U.S. marshal that was part of the task force, and he said the [residents of] the home were cordial and seemed fine when they left," Lees said.
Fred Harris, the city's safety-service director, said he is upset that Warren police officers did not contact him.
"I understand that these types of mistakes are made, but our police force should have contacted me so I could at least apologize to these people, who are city residents," Harris said. "They had to be scared to death."
sinkovich@vindy.com