Youngstown cops largely ignored threats that led to arsons of home, car

By Doug Livingston

TheNewsOutlet.org

YOUNGSTOWN

City police are at a loss to explain why a July 23 report detailing threats over a car that was apparently involved in a crime went largely ignored.

As detailed in the report, a customer of an East Side used-car dealership reportedly threatened the owner and his nephew. The report also indicates the dealer accepted a car the customer said was used in a crime, but did not report that fact immediately to police. That could be considered a violation of city law.

The nephew’s house and car were set on fire three days after the dealer filed a report concerning the threat.

A preliminary determination by Youngstown Fire Department staff at the scene suggests arson.

Paul Parks, owner of P & J Auto Sales on Albert Street, bought a white 2000 Cadillac Sedan on July 9 from a woman and a man she said was her boyfriend. The boyfriend is the suspect in the threat and arson reports.

Parks told police the car was registered to the 29-year-old Schenley Avenue woman. According to a report, Parks told police the boyfriend said “he was always getting pulled over and he had shot at somebody while he was driving the car.” The man is unnamed in police reports and unknown to Parks.

“It’s common. Everyday,” Parks said of the deal in which the 2000 Cadillac was traded in for a 1999 Cadillac and $102.50 in taxes.

Parks, 60, said he later found chips in the windshield of the 2000 Cadillac that he suspected were from the expended shell casings that littered the floor of the vehicle.

Parks cleaned up the car and put it on his lot for sale.

“I just throw away the casings and go about my business,” Parks said.

Two weeks after Parks traded the car, the man returned, complaining the 1999 Cadillac he had received in the trade was overheating. The man stated he had a mechanic look at the car, but Parks requested the car be looked at by a dealership mechanic. The man refused.

According to police reports and a statement from Parks, the man threatened to shoot Parks and his nephew, John Gaia, if his 2000 Cadillac was not immediately returned.

In the July 23 report, Gaia told police the man told him, “If Paul don’t give me my car back, I am going to shoot up your house and your family. I know where you live, and I don’t have a problem with it because I have already done 10 years before.”

Three days later, Gaia’s car and residence were burned.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.