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Warrant issued for missing homeless man
By John W. GOODWIN Jr.
YOUNGSTOWN
The homeless man beaten by South Side teens last week was scheduled to be arraigned this week in Youngstown Municipal Court for causing a disturbance at a fast-food restaurant, but no one seems to know where he is.
Police were called to McDonald’s on Fifth Avenue on Monday to handle a man said to have been yelling at staff and refusing to leave the restaurant.
Officers went to the restaurant just after 8:30 p.m. and found Thomas Boddie, 58, causing a disturbance. Police reports say Boddie had been warned on two previous occasions in October to stay away from the McDonald’s property.
Boddie is charged with criminal trespass. Police said once he was taken into custody, Boddie continued to be difficult with officers — even spitting at officers before being booked into the Mahoning County jail.
Boddie was given a date to appear in court and released from the jail but never showed up for the hearing. City Prosecutor Jay Macejko said a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Macejko said he is familiar with Boddie from similar instances in the past.
“He is kind of one of those habitual trespassers we deal with,” said Macejko.
Last week, Boddie made news as the victim of a beating reportedly dished out by juveniles not far from a vacant house he had occupied for several weeks.
Police are questioning and investigating the group of juveniles believed to have beaten and stoned Boddie. Their ages range from 9 to 16. Officers were sent to the 800 block of Sherwood Avenue after witnesses reported the beating. Officers found Boddie sitting on the ground near a tree on Volney Road.
Witnesses directed officers to a house on West LaClede Avenue, where several children had gone after hitting the man and pelting him with bricks, police said.
Police spoke to two of the juveniles, who acknowledged being present when two other juveniles beat the man.
Boddie had no visible injuries but was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment. He was released a short time later and had not been seen until the incident at the restaurant.
Macejko said even though Boddie is homeless, police can search areas he is known to frequent or wait until he is seen somewhere in the community.