Township employee pleads to reduced charge

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Austintown

The township employee picked up after suspected drunken driving pleaded guilty to a physical-control violation.

Douglas S. Estok, 51, of Austintown, was picked up about 3:30 a.m. Oct. 31 by township police near Penny Lane and Kirk Road and charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Police Chief Bob Gavalier previously said police records show Estok blew a 0.118 on the Breathalyzer. The legal limit is 0.08.

He was in his personal vehicle and not on the job.

Estok pleaded guilty Monday in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown to a reduced charge of a physical control violation, said assistant county Prosecutor Mike McBride.

McBride said the charge was amended because of evidence suppression issues, though he said the case details weren’t immediately available to him Tuesday. Estok’s attorney Sam Amendolara didn’t return calls to comment.

Estok was hired as a road department employee Sept. 8 on a 90-day probationary basis. Trustee David Ditzler said Estok’s probation period was extended another 90 days, after the incident, to allow court proceedings to take place.

Ditzler said as of Tuesday afternoon he hadn’t heard the details of Estok’s plea.

“We extended his probation, and he went through the process to be assessed and evaluated to make sure there wasn’t anything we had to worry about from the township’s standpoint,” Ditzler said.

McBride said Estok’s plea includes all of the penalties of an OVI charge.

He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 177 suspended. In lieu of jail time Estok is permitted to attend alcohol-education classes. He also was ordered to pay a $600 fine and will be on nonreporting probation for six months pending the completion of the other stipulations, McBride said.

“The nonreporting probations puts us in the position where if he were to get into trouble, he could be forced to serve out the balance of his jail sentence,” he said.

McBride said Estok is also without a driver’s license for six months, retroactive to the date of the offense. Ditzler said Estok does have work driving privileges.

“He is permitted to drive during work and to and from work,” Ditzler said. “He hasn’t been hindered and unable to perform his job at all.”

Ditzler said Estok has about two months left in his probationary period. He said the trustees will take into everything into consideration to determine if his employment will continue after that.

“We’ll look at everything we have in front of us, his work, recommendations from his supervisor, the assessment he voluntarily took,” Ditzler said. “We’ll put everything together and take those things into consideration.”