PUBLIC INDECENCY Judge sentences ex-Pride player

The judge granted working privileges.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Willie J. Bland, former Youngstown Pride basketball player convicted of public indecency, must serve 30 days' electronically monitored house arrest and attend sex behavior counseling.
Bland, 42, of Boardman, appeared Monday in municipal court with his lawyer, Edwin Romero. Judge Robert P. Milich sentenced Bland to house arrest, ordered the counseling and placed him on two years' probation. The judge also fined Bland $100.
Bland, while on house arrest, will have working privileges arranged through the probation department.
He shook his head when the judge asked if had anything to say.
Before sentencing, Romero told Judge Milich that his client has been in the community more than 10 years and, in that time, was convicted of disorderly conduct in Boardman and speeding. Romero said Bland insists the prosecution witnesses are mistaken in what they believe happened.
Bland was arrested about 2 a.m. April 20, 2003 after two women told police that he opened his driver's side door and masturbated while nodding at them. At the time, Bland was parked in front of National City Bank on Wick Avenue downtown (facing south) and the women, traveling northbound on Wick, had stopped at the red light, reports show.
Progress of case
Bland pleaded no contest at arraignment April 21, 2003 and was set for sentencing June 21 but then withdrew his plea Sept. 9 and proceeded to a bench trial Dec. 11. Judge Milich did not render a decision that day but ordered the transcript and took the case under advisement.
Last month, the judge found Bland guilty and ordered a presentence investigation.
Bland was convicted of a similar charge in Boardman in 1999, according to Vindicator files.
Romero has said that he called as a defense witness a man who said he had a better vantage point than the women and refuted their testimony of what happened April 20, 2003. The man had continued driving and didn't see the arrest; he did, however, on his return trip, notice Bland's car being towed, and the event stuck because of the car's vanity license plate -- WIFESCR, Romero said.
Romero said that the witness, by happenstance, spotted the distinctive license plate three months later at a gas station, approached Bland and asked about his car's being towed from downtown.
Two explanations
Bland explained the arrest and the man offered to be a witness, Romero said. The lawyer said Bland had pulled over on Wick Avenue because his brake lights were out and he was fiddling with wires under the dash.
Police said Bland offered first that his "check engine" light had come on, then later said his brake lights were not working.
A year ago, Boardman High School officials told The Vindicator that Bland, who had lent his basketball expertise to the girls basketball team, was no longer permitted to do so. Bland's daughter was a star player on the girls basketball team.
Bland played for the former Youngstown Pride professional basketball team in the now-defunct World Basketball League. The league operated from 1988 to 1992.
meade@vindy.com