Prison sentence justified for burglary ring leader

We’re still bemused by use of the word hapless last summer to describe the criminal organization that operated in the Mahoning Valley, stealing $400,000 worth of goods from businesses. So, we appreciate the fact that Visiting Judge Thomas P. Curran shares our opinion of the seriousness of the crimes that were committed.

On Monday, Judge Curran, sitting in the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, sentenced ringleader Bobbie J. Mock to 10 years in prison. Mock, who is already serving time in the county jail on an unrelated conviction, pleaded guilty in 2008 to all 44 counts against him involving breaking and entering, theft and receiving stolen property and a state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization charge. As a condition of his plea, he was required to testify against the others involved in the enterprise.

A total of 15 people were indicted on racketeering and 67 other criminal charges stemming from the break up of the ring by a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement task force led by James Ciotti, an agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation in the Attorney General’s Office. More than $400,000 worth of goods were recovered.

“It’s a hapless group of individuals who acted individually,” said Atty. Jeffrey Limbian, who represented Mock. “This isn’t some Mafia-type organization.”

But Kasey Shidel, assistant Mahoning County prosecutor, said of the ring leader, “We believe that the defendant was a very major player and an important part of the ongoing criminal organization.”

Judge Curran obviously agreed with the prosecutor, given the sentences he has imposed thus far.

In addition to Mock, eight other defendants also were sentenced this week, including David Thistlewaite of Canfield, who was found guilty by Judge Curran following a two-day nonjury trial.

Medical opinion

Assistant Prosecutor Shidel had asked for Thistlewaite, owner of Bernard’s Auto Parts on Steel Street, to be sent to prison and then considered for judicial release. But the judge noted that the defendant has a medical condition that could be compounded were he behind bars. He thus sentenced Thistlewaite, who bought six motorcycles and four four-wheelers stolen from Gollan’s Honda Motorcycle Sales and Service for $4,000, to four years’ probation and fined him $10,000.

Gennaro Bellard, who like Mock copped a plea and agreed to testify against other participants in the ring, was sentenced to four years’ intensive supervision and court costs, and he must participate in a day-reporting program for the first six months of his probation. Bellard pleaded guilty to breaking and entering at Gollan’s from which 10 motorcycles were stolen in January 2006.

Another defendant, Timothy Marino of Cortland, was sentenced 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 that members of the ring stole from locations such as Blake’s Mini Storage and North Coast Energy.

Marino, along with two others, were working at General Motors and law enforcement officials said they took orders from their co-workers for items they wanted to buy and passed the information along to the ring.

No, the 15-member burglary ring that operated in the area was no “hapless group of individuals.”

Last year, we were intrigued by the revelation that among the items stolen in the 120 break-ins were police jackets taken from Red Diamond Uniforms in Austintown.

Warren police Detective Jeffrey Hoolihan said at the time that the burglars planned to pose as police who would raid drug houses and steal money and drugs.

“I would hope that the message would be the old saying that ‘Crime does not pay,’” Detective Andrew Bodzak of the Canfield Police Department said during this week’s sentencing.

But the message is only effective if the punishment fits the crime.

In the case of the burglary ring, it appears that Judge Curran is sending the right message with his sentencing of the defendants.