Auction set in Boardman

STAFF REPORT

BOARDMAN — In the market for a five-person hot tub to ease the winter blues?

How about a new lawn mower and hedge clippers to get ready for all that spring yard work?

If so, get your bids ready, because all those items, plus about 60 other stolen goods recovered by police, will be up for grabs March 14.

The public auction will start at 10 a.m. at Western Reserve Auction Center, 1221 Western Reserve Road. Bidders can arrive at 9 a.m. to preview items.

George Roman Auctioneers will auction items confiscated by the Ohio Organized Crime Commission Task Force, which has units in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

The property has been accumulating since 2007 and been collected by numerous police departments in the tri-county area, Chris Roman said.

The owners of the items to be auctioned could not be found or could not make the necessary claims that they owned the items, Roman said.

The task force made extensive efforts to return the property to owners or insurance companies, said Holly Hollingsworth of the Ohio Attorney General’s office, which overseas the crime task force.

The majority of confiscated items did get returned to the rightful owners, and officials will continue to return items up to the date of the auction, she said.

Some of the items to be auctioned include flat-screen televisions, utility trailers, yard tractors, restaurant equipment, men’s jackets, power tools, electronics, furniture and more.

The items being auctioned are valued at about $20,000, said Roman who is expecting a big turnout.

State law says auction proceeds will be “placed in the general revenue fund of the state, or the general fund of the county, the township, or the municipal corporation of which the law enforcement agency involved is an agency.”

For more information about the auction visit www.georgeromanauctioneers.com.

The site has a detailed list of items to be auctioned, as well as pictures of some of them.