Ex-Warren policeman is indicted

The policeman was suspended without pay in 2004 for offering to buy a gun.
WARREN -- A former Warren policeman has been secretly indicted on charges of tampering with evidence and theft in office.
Dewey Gray, 40, of Bristol-Champion Townline Road in Bristolville, was arraigned Wednesday before Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court after being indicted Tuesday.
Doug Franklin, Warren's safety-service director, said Gray is no longer employed as a police officer -- but would not say what Gray had done to get indicted.
Officials from the Warren Police Department and the Trumbull County prosecutor's office were also unavailable late Wednesday to specify the nature of the charges.
Gray pleaded innocent to the felonies, and his bond was set at 5,000, which he posted a short time later. Judge Logan set a first hearing for 8:30 a.m. April 17.
Tampering with evidence is a third-degree felony, punishable by one to five years in prison and a 10,000 fine. Theft in office is a fifth-degree felony, punishable by six to 12 months in prison and a 2,500 fine.
What happened in 2004
Police Chief John Mandopoulos suspended Gray for 40 days without pay in 2004 for violating department policies by offering to buy a German handgun from an elderly Warren woman.
The chief stated in his three-page ruling at the time that he found Gray guilty of two administrative charges, using his position as a police officer to gain advantage in personal matters and buying an item from a person he came in contact with through his employment.
Internal affairs officers say Gray bought a gun from a woman who had turned over two guns to the police department. Gray also offered to buy the second gun, internal affairs officers said.
The internal affairs report says a woman called police and asked them to take a .32-caliber revolver and a German Luger handgun she no longer wanted in her house.
The detective offered the woman 20 for the revolver and told her he'd have the Luger appraised before making her an offer.
Before getting the guns appraised, he learned an internal investigation had been started and turned the guns over to the department's evidence room, records indicate.