CANFIELD FBI searches residence of former deputy Chance

The upscale house is the home of the brother of the imprisoned ex-sheriff.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- FBI agents conducting a fraud and identity theft investigation searched the Canfield residence of Jeff Chance, a former Mahoning County deputy sheriff.
Agents went to 5075 Canfield Road on Thursday and left with computer-related equipment. County records show the 10-room house, valued at roughly $280,500, is not in Chance's name.
FBI Special Agent John Kane, head of the bureau's Boardman office, said Chance was home during the search and was very cooperative.
Agents were also at Chance's employer, Pro Car Auto Group, 4508 Mahoning Ave. in Austintown. Kane said Pro Car is cooperating fully in the investigation.
Contacted FBI
Pro Car contacted the FBI after realizing someone was using the company identity to computer order merchandise from Best Buy, for example, Ted Sanders, Pro Car co-owner, said from his Massillon office.
"We didn't get bills. We got calls from people asking 'What's Pro Car doing accessing the credit bureau?'" Sanders said. "I'm not sure how [the crime] was done, but it was all done through computers."
Sanders said he doesn't think Chance or any other employee -- at Pro Car in Austintown or Pro Car in Warren -- had anything to do with the crime. Because of the Internet, those responsible could be from another country, he said.
The FBI, Sanders said, assured him that the case "should be very solvable." Agents he spoke to explained that identity theft is a growing problem.
The fraud and identity theft investigation is in the early stages, Kane stressed. He declined to comment further and referred questions to William J. Edwards, first assistant U.S. attorney in Cleveland.
Edwards said he anticipates the search warrant return will be filed with U.S. District Court early next week. He had no comment beyond that.
Chances' resignations
Jeff Chance's brother, ex-sheriff Phil Chance, was convicted of racketeering crimes in July 1999, and resigned. Phil Chance is serving a federal prison sentence and expected to be released in March 2005.
Jeff Chance resigned as a deputy in January 2002, after winning his job back in June 2001, when a common pleas judge upheld an arbiter's decision.
In his resignation letter, Chance cited "politics, prejudice, hostility, low morale and stress" as his primary reasons for quitting.
Sheriff Randall A. Wellington fired Chance in October 1999 after he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor count of falsification, amended from obstruction of justice. The charges were related to misrepresentation of drug cases in Youngstown Municipal Court.
Chance appealed the termination and, in May 2000, the arbiter determined that the punishment should have been a 30-day suspension and possible reduction in rank. When the judge upheld the arbiter's decision, she ordered that any mention of dishonesty be removed from Chance's personnel file.
meade@vindy.com