Investigators honor 2 in Valley

Staff report

CLEVELAND

A Boardman police detective and an assistant Youngstown city prosecutor were honored recently by the Ohio Auto Theft Investigators’ Association for their work in the investigation and prosecution of corrupt activity alleged at the former Fat Man’s Auto Sales used-car dealership on Canfield Road.

Detective Glenn Patton, who started the probe based on a complaint filed with the Boardman Police Department, received the investigator-of-the-year award.

Dana Lantz, an assistant city prosecutor who drafted the charges originating in Youngstown Municipal Court, received the association’s law-enforcement award in the Cleveland awards ceremony May 12.

Fat Man’s has been closed since a multijurisdictional law-enforcement raid there last October. Six people were charged in a 139-count Mahoning County grand jury indictment in December.

Charges included engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, motor-vehicle offenses, tampering with records and multiple counts of theft.

Complaints about the dealership ranged from lack of vehicle titles to unpaid Ohio sales taxes.

With hundreds of victims, Lantz said, “This was an ongoing criminal conspiracy that basically was taking advantage of the poor people in our community.”