Fake exterminator stole from homes, police say

One of the victims is an 88-year-old woman.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

BOARDMAN — It seems as if Derek Blackburn may be the real pest for some Boardman residents.

Police say Blackburn, 36, of Lemans Drive, claimed to be an exterminator to gain access to homes and apartments ultimately to steal from them.

Blackburn was arrested and charged with two counts of burglary and one count each of forgery and receiving stolen property.

His girlfriend, Glenda Williams, 60, also of Lemans, was charged with two counts each of forgery and receiving stolen property.

Township police arrested the couple Friday while in Austintown where they went to question Blackburn’s sister about the couple’s whereabouts.

When they arrived at the sister’s house, they saw Blackburn driving in a car with Williams as a passenger. Police stopped the car.

Blackburn is accused of saying he was an exterminator to gain access to homes and apartments on Afton Avenue, Mathews Road and Southern Boulevard over the last several weeks.

A resident would let him in and he’d steal checks and credit cards, victims said.

An 88-year-old woman, who lives on Mathews Road, was one of the victims.

She said that one of her neighbors buzzed the apartment complex’s door to let in Blackburn in mid-July.

When she looked out her door to see what was happening, Blackburn came into her apartment, saying he was spraying for bugs.

Her purse, with her checkbook inside, was on the couch, but the elderly woman said she stayed right with the supposed-exterminator while he was in her apartment.

What happened

She learned the next month that five checks, written to total about $500, were taken when she received her bank statement.

Three of the checks had been made out to Blackburn, one was made out to cash and the fifth was written to Williams, a police report shows.

The woman notified her bank and was reimbursed for the missing money.

Another victim, a 77-year-old woman who lives on Afton, told police that she noticed a $60 check on her bank statement that she hadn’t written. It too was made out to Blackburn with pest control written in the memo line, but the signature on it isn’t hers, a police report said.

The Afton victim told police that she knew Blackburn from when he worked for an exterminating company.

The last time he came to her house, he told her he now worked for himself and that he would give her a free application.

She believes he may have stolen the check while in the house.

Blackburn told police that he stole to support his OxyContin addiction, a police report said. He also told police that he would sometimes have Williams cash the stolen checks for him. Both Blackburn and Williams were lodged in the Mahoning County Jail and are to appear today in Mahoning County Court here.