Charge filed against Jeswald Towing owner

Austintown

The owner of Jeswald Towing faces a charge three months after township police raided his business.

Anthony Jeswald, owner of the business at 6528 Mahoning Ave., was charged Monday with unauthorized use of motor vehicles, a first-degree misdemeanor, said police Chief Bob Gavalier.

Jeswald will appear in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown Wednesday for an arraignment, Gavalier said.

The chief said details of the investigation won’t be released until Wednesday’s court hearing.

Township police and Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers served a search warrant at the business Feb. 7 after an investigation into why vehicles towed by Jeswald for the police department seemed to go to the junk yard without proper authorization.

Gavalier said previously that 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.”