Teen cop-killer is moved

May 30, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

MANSFIELD, Ohio

A man convicted of killing a Toledo police officer has been moved out of a Toledo prison after complaints from the slain officer’s family and colleagues.

Robert Jobe was sentenced in 2007 to serve at least 18 years for the shooting death of Detective Keith Dressel, 35, in 2007. After Jobe turned 18 in February, he was moved to the Toledo prison from a southern Ohio facility with a young-offender program. A prisons department spokeswoman said the move placed Jobe closer to family.

Dressel’s mother, Larraine Dressel, said it hurt to hear that Jobe was placed in Toledo so his family could visit him.

“I can’t visit my son ever again, ever,” she said.

She and Dressel’s father, Mike Dressel, signed a petition opposing the placement of offenders in communities where they committed their crimes, and Toledo officers wrote to the Toledo warden.

Walburn said Jobe was moved again over the past week to a facility in Mansfield in north-central Ohio because of a number of factors, including the public outcry.

Dressel, 35, was shot in February 2007 after he stopped to question Jobe and another man who were standing on a street in early morning hours. It was the city’s first killing of a police officer in the line of duty since 1970. Jobe is eligible for parole in 2024.

The Dressels said the prison-transfer issue interrupted their healing process.

“You think about what happened, what he did. And where is he at? He’s right there,” Mike Dressel said.

Larraine Dressel also said Jobe should not have been at the Toledo prison because, if he escaped, he would have access to an area where he knows people and places.

“Our situation has been fixed,” she said. “He’s been moved. But there are others who need help with this. ... Get them away from the victims’ families. Let them breathe. Let them live.”

The prisons department takes transfer requests only from wardens and considers them on a case-by-case basis.