LAW ENFORCEMENT Marshals raid wrong house

The parents were at work with the family dog, a German shepherd.
By PATRICIA MEADE
and IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
AUSTINTOWN -- Once again, members of the U.S. Marshals task force entered a house looking for a fugitive who hasn't lived there in years.
"It took me 15 seconds on the auditor's Web site to find out who owned the house," said Youngstown attorney Damian A. Billak. "William Bailey hasn't lived there in five years."
Billak said the task force acted recklessly by not checking the address, 5362 Webb Road, through county records. The home is owned by Billak's clients, Mike and Jamie Dolenic, who have two daughters, 14 and 17.
The girls were home when the task force showed up Monday afternoon and entered the house, looking for Bailey. They were scared to death by the cops in black ninja suits, Billak said.
Call from daughter
Mike Dolenic said he and his wife were returning home from work when they received a phone call from one of their daughters, who said police were in their home.
The girl then gave the phone to a marshal, who spoke with Jamie Dolenic. The marshal asked Jamie if she knew William Bailey.
"She told him we didn't know this guy," Mike Dolenic said.
The marshal said OK and hung up, Mike Dolenic said. He said that at the time, he thought the marshals had knocked on the door of his home and asked his daughters about Bailey.
His daughter then called back and told him she had been in her room listening to her radio when she heard some yelling, "Police!"
"She comes out, and there she's confronted by four cops holding their guns drawn," Mike Dolenic said. "They told her they had a warrant for William Bailey's arrest and they had a right to be there."
He added that he believes the marshals would have broken his door down if it hadn't been unlocked to let his family's cats come and go. He also noted that the marshals most likely would have shot his family's pet German shepherd if the dog had been home, as it would have attacked. Mike and Jamie had taken the dog with them when they left for work earlier that day.
No answer from sheriff
After talking with his daughter, Mike Dolenic called the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department wanting to know who had been in his house. The marshals had not left a card or identified themselves, he said, and they never apologized.
He said he was transferred between phones at the sheriff's department three times. When he finally got an answering machine, he hung up.
"All I wanted was an explanation," Mike Dolenic said. He then contacted Billak.
The officers had established that the house was Bailey's primary residence, U.S. Marshal Cathy Jones said from her Cleveland office. She declined to comment further.
Bailey, no age given, is wanted on warrants charging him with violating federal parole on a mail fraud conviction and a grand theft in Ashtabula County, said Maj. Michael Budd at the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department.
In nearly identical circumstances, the task force entered a home in Struthers last month looking for a sexually oriented offender who failed, for more than two years, to register with the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department. For more than two years, the house on Spring Street has been owned by David and Mandy Barone, who have two young children and no knowledge of the fugitive or his whereabouts.
Like the Dolenics, the Barones hired a lawyer.
Mike Dolenic said his family hoped that by hiring a lawyer, they could prevent the marshals from making similar mistakes in the future.
meade@vindy.comhill@vindy.com