Authorities search Jeswald Towing

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

AUSTINTOWN

A nearly eight-hour search at Jeswald Towing yielded evidence of possible altered vehicle-identification numbers on several impounded vehicles.

Township police and Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers served a search warrant Friday after an investigation into why vehicles towed by Jeswald for the police department seemed to go to the junk yard without proper authorization.

Austintown police Chief Bob Gavalier said the proper procedure for junking towed vehicles includes first sending a certified letter to the vehicle’s owner and then sending an affidavit for the unclaimed vehicle to be signed off by the department.

“It looks like they were forging the names of the former police chief and [a lieutenant]” he said. “They somehow took an old affidavit form and copied it so they could forge the name and make it look like we had signed off.”

A representative from Jeswald declined to comment.

Lt. Emil Grahovac said officers confiscated office records, bank records, company equipment and several cars. He said the most significant discovery, however, was vehicles with VIN numbers that seemed to be altered.

Grahovac said a car’s public VIN number is the code printed on the dashboard that identifies the car. He said that though it’s easy to switch a vehicle’s public VIN, most automobiles have VINs in other hidden spots.

“We found some cars with questionable VINs. They were removed from the lot pending the investigation,” he said. “Some of the [OSHP troopers] know how to find the hidden VIN numbers, so they’re looking at those and trying to match them with the public [VIN].”

Grahovac said police are concentrating on cars impounded by Jeswald between 2008 and 2010.

He said the investigation will be extensive, and charges won’t be filed any time soon.

Gavalier said those involved could face charges of shamming legal procedures, a third-degree felony, as well as grand theft and grand-theft auto, both fourth-degree felonies.

Grahovac said Jeswald is open, but the department removed the business from its impound service after the initial investigation began in December.