Friday, May 21, 2010
Staff report
BEAVER
A massive police investigation into residential burglaries and drug trafficking in several Ohio and Pennsylvania communities led to secret indictments and arrests of three Ohio siblings Thursday.
The three suspects are: Jamie Dee Kozic, 30, of Struthers; Zoltan Joseph Kozic, 36, of New Middletown; and Jennifer Velma Kozic, 33, of Lowellville. They are in the Mahoning County jail.
The investigation was conducted on two fronts, illegal drug use and trafficking and the burglaries, according to Beaver Police Chief Carl N. Frost.
On April 16, the drug part of the investigation came to fruition with the arrest of the Kozics on felony drug-trafficking charges. The burglary investigation continued and culminated in Thursday’s indictments, Frost said in a press release.
A press conference is set for 10 a.m. today to reveal other details about the investigation.
In his press release, Frost said beginning last fall, multiple law-enforcement agencies in Mahoning, Columbiana, Geauga and Trumbull counties in Ohio and in Western Pennsylvania noticed an unusually large number of burglaries in homes, apartments and condominiums.
During this time, detectives from the Mahoning County sheriff’s office received information about the identities of the suspects, and Beaver Police Detective E.D. Dattilo received information concerning the identity of a suspected outlet for the stolen property, as well as a tie to the trafficking of narcotics, Frost said.
Mahoning County Prosecutor Nicholas Modarelli appointed Dattilo to coordinate the investigation, while Beaver Police Officer D.T. Beniston handled the drug-trafficking probe through the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force. Beniston is assigned to the task force on a part-time basis, along with Poland Township Police Detective G. Wilson.
Frost said the burglaries were fueled by the Kozics’ drug use and trafficking.
Three burglaries in Beaver Township, on Mystic Rock and Sharrott roads; two in New Waterford; and one each in Boardman, Springfield, Hubbard and St. Clair townships were cited in the indictments. Other cases remain under investigation, Frost said.
Frost warned area residents to beware of people knocking on their door asking to use their telephone or asking for someone who doesn’t live there.
“This is the biggest indicator that your home or a neighbor’s home is going to be burglarized. If this happens, yell through your locked door that you are calling the police so they will know someone is home. Most burglars do not want confrontation and will leave. Try to get a description without exposing yourself to danger, and call the police where you live,” Frost said.
Anyone with additional information on this investigation is asked to call Dattilo at the Beaver department at 330-549-5338. Anyone who believes he or she was a victim of this burglary ring is urged to call the local law-enforcement agency.
Besides the task force and Beaver police, law-enforcement agencies that participated in the investigation are: Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification, Drug Enforcement Agency, FBI, Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office, Geauga County Sheriff’s Office, and Poland township, Youngstown, Springfield, Boardman, New Waterford, St. Clair Township, Hubbard, Austintown, Milton Township, Struthers and Canfield police departments.