MAHONING VALLEY Official doles out forfeiture money

The Warren chief will have a firearms training system in a month.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
MINERAL RIDGE -- The drug dealers who are roughly $113,000 poorer today should know that 13 law enforcement agencies are making plans to spend it.
U.S. Attorney Greg White, as he handed out the checks Wednesday, said the forfeiture money is a way to "remove profit from the bad guys and give it to the good guys." The money was derived from drug-related seizures -- cash, cars and a home -- over the past three years.
White, based in Cleveland, and Douglas Lamplugh, Drug Enforcement Administration agent-in-charge in Youngstown, distributed checks that ranged from $2,121 to $47,106 at Theodore's Banquet Center on North Canfield-Niles Road. Several local police agencies are members of the DEA task force.
"The police chiefs are great. They're so engaged, want to do the partnerships," White said afterward of local drug enforcement task forces. "Task forces are the best answer to crime problems. They're changing the attitudes of people who say things can't change."
Funds for Warren
Warren Police Chief John Mandopoulos, who accepted a $47,106 check, said it represents a portion of the proceeds from the sale of a house on Henn Hyde Road in Vienna Township. Warren Detective Melanie Gambill, assigned to the DEA task force, worked the case that involved a marijuana growing operation, he said.
Records show the case, which included the search of a house in Niles, also led to the forfeiture of a 1997 Ford Expedition, 1998 Chevrolet pickup truck and nearly $25,000 in cash.
Mandopoulos said his department is using $78,000 in forfeiture funds to buy a firearms training system that should be delivered in a month or so. The chief said it was specifically designed for his department to show the use of a firearm, chemical spray and baton.
The system features a gigantic screen, video narrator and real-life, full-size police scenarios that range from traffic stops and vehicle pursuits to domestic violence encounters and house searches. Many local police departments, such as Youngstown, rent the system every two years or so for training purposes.
Using the money
Mandopoulos said the forfeiture funds, governed by federal guidelines, are to be used to "supplement, not supplant" money received from the city for the police department. He said past purchases have included bulletproof helmets.
Boardman Police Chief Jeff Patterson said the money from drug-related seizures represents a "rainy day fund."
In the past, his department purchased computers for cruisers and ballistic shields with forfeiture funds. The department also donated money to build a driving track at the Canfield Fairgrounds for police training, he said.
Patterson said he likes the idea that bad guys' money, in effect, subsidizes investigations of bad guys.
Among the cases Lamplugh described Wednesday was the forfeiture of a vehicle that had been involved in a traffic stop by the Ohio State Highway Patrol in December 2002. A narcotic-sniffing dog alerted on cocaine concealed in a secret compartment.
meade@vindy.com