Owner of auto-body shops faces charges

Staff report

WARREN

The owner of five area King Collision body shops has pleaded innocent in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to felony charges connected to stolen pieces of equipment found at one of the body shops and at an employee’s house.

Douglas J. Fenstermaker, 55, of Amber Drive, Howland, entered the plea Tuesday after a secret indictment last week by a county grand jury.

Fenstermaker was released after posting $5,000 bond. He returns to court Oct. 14. If convicted, Fenstermaker faces up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Hubbard Township police said they found a stolen forklift in May at the King Collision store on U.S. Route 62 in the township that had been reported stolen from North Jackson in 2006.

They also found a Bobcat earth-moving vehicle in May at a Hubbard Township King Collision employee’s house in Hubbard Township that was reported stolen from Mercer County, Pa., in 2003.

The forklift is valued at $3,500, and the Bobcat is valued at $14,000, police said.

King Collision has stores in Hubbard, Warren and Boardman townships and Andover and Salem.