Departments work together to break crime rings

By Ed Runyan

The rings were stopped because of a cooperative effort by many law enforcement agencies.

AUSTINTOWN — On Jan. 23, 2007, Austintown Patrolman Ross Linert was checking businesses in the Wedgewood Plaza on South Raccoon Road when he noticed two men in a retired police vehicle using a door-mounted spotlight to look inside store fronts.

After a few minutes, the vehicle sped off, with Linert in pursuit. The officer made a traffic stop and discovered Jason Kirkpatrick of Warren and James Hunsbarger of Campbell, both 27, inside.

And he found a few other curious items in the car: a pry bar, two two-way radios, a pair of binoculars and a police scanner with earphones and a book containing police radio frequencies.

The information led police to suspect the men might be burglars, but it didn’t prove that they were.

Fortunately, James Ciotti, an agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, and his new boss at the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Marc Dann, had noticed a rash of burglaries dating back at least a year and decided to do something about them.

In the months that followed Linert’s traffic stop, 28 law enforcement investigators from Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties went to work as the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission to solve the crimes.

After nearly two years, the investigation resulted in the conviction of Kirkpatrick and Hunsbarger for committing up to 30 business break-ins and the conviction of many of the 15 people indicted in a separate burglary cell headed by Austintown man Bobby J. Mock that was responsible for as many as 125 more.

Jeff Hoolihan, a Warren police detective on the task force, said investigators didn’t know at first whether they were investigating one large group or multiple groups. Investigators also found two other cells but are not saying much yet about them.

Eventually, it became clear that there were two main burglary cells — the Kirkpatrick cell, which would drop into stores through the ceiling by removing air conditioning panels; and Mock’s cell, which would generally cut locks and fences and take gas-operated equipment such as lawn mowers or all-terrain vehicles from outside a business.

The Kirkpatrick cell was blamed for break-ins from summer 2006 through January 2007; the Mock cell, which regularly sold its stolen goods to General Motors employees at Lordstown, operated as early as 2004, authorities say.

Investigators said it was necessary for law enforcement to work together on the crimes because one department doesn’t have the resources to handle such a task.

Both burglary cells operated in a three-county area.

Among the targets of the Kirkpatrick cell were Subway restaurants in Boardman and Cortland, Radio Shack in Columbiana and the Bowladrome in Struthers.

The Mock group targeted businesses such as Home Depot in Warren, George’s Auto and Trailer Sales in North Jackson, and Blake’s Mini Storage in Austintown.

Lt. Robert Schaeffer of the Austintown Police Department said he thinks the indictment and conviction of most of the parties in the two burglary cells has reduced commercial burglaries in the Mahoning Valley.

Schaeffer said there was a rash of burglaries occurring in Austintown and elsewhere before the burglary ring suspects were charged. The incidence of those crimes has dropped since then, he said.

Schaeffer said in some cases, businesses don’t have enough insurance to cover all of the loss or have to pay a deductible before the insurance pays.

That was the case for Diamond Steel Construction of Boardman, which had a compressor stolen from a job site on Lockwood Boulevard in Boardman; and George’s Auto and Trailer Sales, which has been the victim of several thefts in recent years, one of them a foiled attempt attributed to Mock’s cell.

Dave Collins, president of Diamond Steel, said he didn’t have insurance on the compressor, identified in a Mahoning County indictment as a piece of equipment stolen by Mock, 39, and Brian Bleggi, 41, on June 14, 2007, so he figured on having to replace it at his own expense.

But authorities notified him last summer that he could have his compressor back, and he drove to a Warren warehouse and claimed it.

George Yuhas, owner of George’s Auto and Trailer, said the break-in on July 3, 2007, listed in court records involved two riding mowers that Mock and two others were accused of trying to steal from in front of the business, along state Route 45.

A Jackson Township policeman called Yuhas that night to tell him that some men had stolen a box truck and pickup truck, put one of the mowers in the box truck and were trying to load the second one when the officer saw what was going on.

The suspects got away on foot, leaving all the stolen goods behind, Yuhas said.

But on previous occasions, thieves stole mowers and trailers from him, leading him to have a security system installed early this year at a cost of $5,000. He has also paid for some stolen items himself.

“The insurance company told me if I had one more theft, I’d be kicked out,” Yuhas said, meaning he’d have to find a different insurance company, probably at a higher cost. Yuhas started the business in 1971.

Schaeffer, who has been a detective about 30 years, said the investigation of the Mock and Kirkpatrick cells is an example of the need for law enforcement to work together on occasion to solve a regional problem.

Paul J. Gains, Mahoning County prosecutor, said the Mock and Kirkpatrick burglary cells technically fall under the category of organized crime, but that term is usually reserved for crime with a connection to the Mafia.

Gains said there was no mob influence in the Mock or Kirkpatrick cells, so even though Mock, Bleggi and Kirkpatrick were convicted of the state version of the federal Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), he doesn’t consider either cell to be so-called “organized crime.” Mock and Bleggi are from Austintown, and Kirkpatrick is from Warren.

The Mock group consisted of “knuckleheads” who took orders for motorized equipment and sold it for a fraction of its retail price, he added.

Three GM Lordstown employees took many of the stolen lawn mowers, trailers and all-terrain vehicles and sold them to their fellow workers.

Nearly all of the stolen merchandise was returned to their owners or the insurance company that paid the claim, and the GM employees who returned the goods were not charged, Hoolihan said.

Mock is in Mahoning County Jail until he is sentenced. He is expected to get 10 years in prison. Bleggi received a four-year jail sentence with eligibility for parole after two years.

runyan@vindy.com