Report: Ex-Howland chief had problems

COLUMBUS (AP) — The man Attorney General Marc Dann has hired to handle evidence from hundreds of criminal cases statewide had problems while running a Trumbull County police operation.

The Dayton Daily News reports that Steve Lamantia, former police chief of Howland Township who now serves as interim superintendent of the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification, faced criticism in a 2002 Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police report.

Dann’s office became aware of the report about a month ago but never obtained nor read a copy, chief of staff Ed Simpson said. “All I can tell you is Steve’s done a good job for us. There have been no problems,” he said.

The 120-page report to township officials concluded that the Howland Township police department’s property room had “major flaws” under Lamantia’s leadership.

Among the issues cited were: unsecured evidence lying on desks and file cabinets; blood and bodily fluid samples kept in an unsecured refrigerator; property stacked haphazardly; and, the room’s easy accessibility to maintenance workers and through a false ceiling.

The report also said no one kept track of who entered the room and some property was unaccounted for, the newspaper reported.

Lamantia retired four months after the document was released.

Lamantia, 67, defended his performance as the interim leader of BCI, the 300-employee division that assists local law enforcement, handles 7 million background checks a year, and processes forensic and DNA evidence. He is paid $84,011 a year and is being considered for the permanent post.

“I’ve been running BCI for six months and I feel very confident in my ability to run BCI,” he said.