Saturday, August 23, 2008
More arrests are expected, Boardman police said.
STAFF REPORT
BOARDMAN — An investigation into a local burglary spree and copper thefts has expanded to include the burglaries of 34 homes in the township, 17 of which had not yet been reported to police.
Officers of the police department’s Street Crimes Unit arrested Michael A. Davis, 25, on Wednesday at the Boardman Inn, Market Street, after a several-week investigation into area burglaries and copper thefts. Davis was arrested without incident and charged with two counts of burglary. He was also found in possession of heroin at the time of his arrest, police said.
On Friday, Davis was charged with the additional crimes of possession of criminal tools and two counts of receiving stolen property for property that is believed to have been taken from two Brookfield Avenue homes late last month. Police expect to file additional charges.
“During the course of our investigation, we came into information of places where Mr. Davis was suspected of burglarizing,” said chief Patrick Berarducci.
That widened the investigation, including the 17 houses where the crimes hadn’t been reported to police.
Many of the homes, where copper piping was removed, were vacant.
“We are now looking at 34 separate Boardman home burglaries,” Berarducci said.
Township police are also referring information to other area departments in hopes of helping them solve additional burglaries. More arrests are expected.
“Street Crimes detectives served two search warrants [Thursday] in this investigation,” Berarducci said. “One search warrant was for a sample of Mr. Davis’ DNA, and the second for his vehicle. Our crime scene investigator is processing the evidence collected to date. We will look at where that evidence takes us next week.”
Davis is in Mahoning County Jail awaiting his initial appearance before Judge Joseph Houser of Mahoning County Area Court here.
Copper thefts discovered this week include three each on Stanton Avenue and Centervale Road, two on Chester Drive and one each on Leighton and Romaine avenues and Indianola Road.