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Mock, Bellard plead in theft-ring case
A theft ringleader faces up to 231‚Ñ2 years in prison.
YOUNGSTOWN — One of three alleged leaders in a theft ring prosecutors say stole $400,000 worth of property has pleaded guilty as charged to all 44 counts against him.
Bobby Joe Mock, 39, of Mahoning County jail, pleaded guilty Friday to breaking and entering, theft and receiving stolen property charges and to a state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization count.
“We believe that the defendant was a very major player and an important part of the ongoing criminal organization,” Kasey Shidel, assistant county prosecutor, said during the plea hearing.
“It’s a hapless group of individuals who largely acted individually ...This isn’t some Mafia-type organization,” said Mock’s lawyer, John Jeffrey Limbian.
The prosecution agreed to recommend a 10-year prison sentence for Mock, who repeatedly said “guilty” in rapid-fire succession as Visiting Judge Thomas P. Curran asked for his plea on each count. Mock told the judge he has a crack cocaine addiction. He said he was a crane operator until about 18 months ago.
The prosecution has also recommended a 10-year concurrent sentence for Mock in a separate felonious assault, theft, breaking and entering, receiving stolen property and safecracking case that is before Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Mock pleaded guilty to those charges this week and awaits sentencing there as well.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum has also sent Mock to prison for 31‚Ñ2 years for a probation violation.
If all sentences would be consecutive, Mock could face up to 231‚Ñ2 years in prison.
Also pleading guilty Friday before Judge Curran was Gennaro Bellard. 42, of Roosevelt Drive, for whom the prosecution is recommending probation. He pleaded guilty to breaking and entering at Gollan Motorcycle Sales and Service, from which 10 motorcycles were stolen on Jan. 10, 2006. The prosecution dropped a theft charge against Bellard, who is free on his own recognizance.
As part of their plea agreements, Mock and Bellard must testify against others in the alleged theft ring. Mock and Bellard were among 15 defendants listed in a 68-count indictment of alleged members of the theft ring last month. The suspects allegedly broke into closed businesses and stole from homes.
Authorities said the ring was so sophisticated that a prospective buyer could order a specific item and have it stolen for him or her. They said they believed the indictment solved about 125 break-ins.
The property authorities seized in the theft ring investigation has been returned to its rightful owners or eventually will be returned to them, Shidel said.
Mock blamed his drug addiction and being off his prescription medications for his actions in a nine-hour standoff with police in July 2007 at the Holiday Inn MetroPlex in Liberty.