Boardman man draws 4th DUS charge

By PATRICIA MEADE

VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — Before Monday, Thomas Valley of Boardman had three pending driving-under-suspension cases.

Now he has four.

Sunday, the 44-year-old South Avenue man was charged with driving under suspension for failure to pay child support after a traffic violation stop on Mahoning Avenue. He was given a court summons for Monday morning.

The 1997 Buick he was driving, registered to his ex-wife, contained metal plates, wheels, pipe and a manhole cover. It was towed and held for the Scrap Theft Unit. Valley told police he had found the scrap items in woods near his apartment.

When Valley failed to show Monday for arraignment in municipal court, Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly issued a warrant for his arrest, the clerk of courts office said.

The officer who gave Valley the court summons Sunday noted in his report that a check through the Law Enforcement Automated Data System showed Valley was under three open suspensions.

Court records show:

U Valley was charged with DUS in late January in Youngstown. A warrant was issued when he failed to show for arraignment.

U He was charged with DUS and speeding in late May in Youngstown. A warrant was issued when he failed to show for a pretrial hearing July 22.

U He was charged with DUS and expired plates in mid-July in Youngstown, and a warrant was issued when he failed to appear for arraignment. He was arrested on the warrant July 22 and arraigned. That case is set for pretrial hearing on Aug. 15.

U Beaver Township police charged him with DUS during a traffic stop July 21. A warrant was issued Aug. 7, based on his failure to appear in Mahoning County Area Court in Canfield for arraignment on the charge in late July.

Police Chief Jimmy Hughes said he’s checking to determine when the city warrants issued before Valley’s latest DUS charge were canceled. The warrants weren’t still active when he checked Monday, but he wants to determine if they were still active when Valley was stopped Sunday and issued a citation.

The chief said if the warrants were still active Sunday, the index operator who checks for warrants should have informed the officer charging Valley with DUS. Then Valley, instead of being given a court summons, would have been taken to jail pending arraignment on the new charge and arraignment for failing to appear in the other pending cases. The Canfield court warrant, the chief said, may not have been entered into the system before Valley’s being stopped Sunday.

Valley’s criminal history includes being convicted in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court of cocaine trafficking three times in the past nine years.

In July 2006, the most recent case, he was sentenced to four years in state prison and given credit for 67 days already served in jail. It wasn’t immediately clear why he is out now if his term wasn’t up until around May 2010.

Valley has a criminal-trespassing case pending in Canfield court that was filed July 21, the same day he was charged with DUS.

In Youngstown, he was convicted of theft of services in April 2005 and still owes fines and costs. His failure to pay resulted in a warrant block on his driver’s license in September 2007. A warrant block prevents a person from applying for a driver’s license and/or vehicle registration. It is not a suspension.

The theft-of-services charge was filed after Valley dumped 24 tires into a Big Lots trash bin on East Midlothian Boulevard, records show. The judge who imposed the fine on Valley also instructed him to find a “legal way” of disposing of the tires.

meade@vindy.com