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6 sentenced for roles in 15-member theft ring
The major theft ring operated for several years in the Valley.
YOUNGSTOWN — Six defendants authorities said were involved in a 15-member theft ring, alleged to have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of property, have been sentenced this week by Visiting Judge Thomas P. Curran of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
On Tuesday afternoon, David Thistlewaite, 36, of Arthur Street, Canfield, was sentenced to four years’ probation and fined $10,000.
Thistlewaite was convicted of 10 counts of receiving stolen property in a two-day nonjury trial before Judge Curran in November.
Ringleader Bobbie J. Mock, 40, of Mahoning County Jail, testified Thistlewaite bought six motorcycles and four four-wheelers stolen Jan. 10, 2006, from Gollan’s Honda on Market Street.
Mock said Thistlewaite paid $4,000 for the vehicles and helped the thieves unload them into the back of Thistlewaite’s business, Bernard’s Auto Parts on Steel Street, later that night.
Judge Curran had sentenced Mock to 10 years in prison Monday. Mock had pleaded guilty as charged to all 44 counts lodged against him in the indictment, including breaking and entering, theft and receiving stolen property charges and a state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization count.
On Tuesday, Judge Curran sentenced Timothy Marino, 42, of Ridge Road, Cortland, to two years in prison.
Marino pleaded guilty to nine counts of receiving stolen property for buying items such as trailers and all-terrain vehicles the ring stole from locations such as Blake’s Mini Storage and North Coast Energy.
Marino is one of three who at the time were working at General Motors Lordstown. Orders were taken from co-workers there for items they wanted to buy and relayed to the thieves in the ring, police said.
“I would hope that the message would be the old saying that ‘Crime does not pay,’” said Detective Andrew Bodzak of the Canfield Police Department. Those sent to prison have lost their freedom, and those sentenced to probation have a blemish on their records, he noted.
“Their names are tarnished. They have criminal records for the rest of their lives. Their future behavior is going to be scrutinized,” said Bodzak, who is the task force commander for the Ohio Organized Crime Commission.
Albert Alli, 33, of Nashua Drive, Austintown, who pleaded guilty to one count each of breaking and entering and theft, was sentenced Tuesday to four years’ probation.
Albert Alli’s wife, Laura, 37, who pleaded guilty to four counts of breaking and entering, two counts of theft and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, was sentenced Tuesday to two years’ probation.
On Monday, Judge Curran sentenced Anthony Petrello, 42, of Canfield Road, to four years’ probation.
Petrello pleaded guilty to four counts of breaking and entering and one count of theft. One of his charges was that he and two others broke into Home Depot in Warren.
Judge Curran told the defendants he put on probation that they’d go to prison if they violate the terms of their probation.
The defendants were named in a 68-count indictment alleging members of the ring committed their crimes between January 2004 and July 2007.
Authorities said they recovered almost $400,000 worth of property stolen by ring members.
A multitude of local police departments, the Ohio Organized Crime Commission, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the Mahoning and Trumbull county prosecutors’ offices participated in the yearlong investigation of the ring.