Friday, October 30, 2009
STAFF REPORT
NEWTON FALLS — A Newton Falls police investigation had led to a second arrest in what the Newton Falls police chief says was a sizable “chop shop” operating on Austin Avenue on Warren’s West Side.
Newton Falls Police Chief John Kuivila said Thursday that they have charged John Swab III, 29, of Jane Street, Masury, with receiving stolen property, possessing criminal tools and tampering with evidence in the investigation.
Swab and Timothy J. Wilks, 47, of Red Fox Run in Warren, both appeared in Newton Falls Municipal Court on Thursday on the felony charges, Kuivila said. Both were released on bond after making an initial appearance.
Kuivila said his department investigated after it was called to the Falls Recycling scrapyard on First Street earlier this week and found Wilks unloading tractor-trailer parts.
It was determined that the parts had come from a tractor that had been stolen from Weathersfield Township over the weekend, Kuivila said.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol helped investigate the matter further, which led officers to 191 Austin Ave., where 20 to 25 vehicles and assorted tractor-trailer and pickup-truck parts were found, Kuivila said.
The men were taking stolen vehicles to the location and stripping them down for the parts, which is a chop-shop operation, Kuivila said.