TRUMBULL COUNTY Watkins praises work on cases

A Niles captain was honored for his work on an old infant-deaths case.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Law enforcement agencies' working together ensures that justice is served in the courtroom, Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins says.
Good teamwork helped solve two recent major homicide cases, Watkins said.
"Every year we have the annual dinner meeting of the Trumbull County Homicide Investigation & amp; Prosecution Unit, and this year what I found most significant was that a total of 13 departments and agencies helped solve the Robert Fingerhut murder case," Watkins said Thursday.
"The extraordinary cooperation and teamwork in the Fingerhut murder investigation resulted in an overwhelming collection of evidence by law enforcement."
Howland Township, the Trumbull County Coroner's Office, Trumbull County Sheriff's Office, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Warren city police, the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation's Richfield and Boardman offices, Liberty and Boardman police, the Mahoning County Sheriff's Office, Youngstown city police, Lorain Correctional Institution and the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office worked on the case.
Awards
Awards were given to Brenda Gerardi of BCI and Chief Paul Monroe and Detective Frank Dillon of Howland Police Department for their work on the case.
Fingerhut was murdered in December 2001 in his Howland Township home. Nathaniel Jackson and Donna Roberts have been convicted.
Jackson has been sentenced to death. A jury recommended Wednesday that Roberts, Fingerhut's former wife, also receive the death penalty. Roberts will be sentenced in about a month.
An award was also given to Capt. Guy Simone of the Niles Police Department for his investigative work involving the deaths of four infants killed in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
"As a result of Simone's work and that of the Trumbull County Coroner's Office, Gloria Greenfield was successfully prosecuted," Watkins said.
Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court sentenced Greenfield to one to 20 years in prison.
Officials said that because the crimes happened in the early 1970s, the children's mother had to be sentenced in accordance with the laws at that time.
Ralph Marchio, a 15-year member of the county homicide task force, received an award for his years of service.
Marchio, who retired from his investigator's position with the prosecutor's office earlier this year, worked for 45 years in law enforcement.
He was a police officer in the city of Warren before taking a job in the prosecutor's office.
sinkovich@vindy.com