No jail time for Austintown towing operator

Austintown

Anthony Jeswald avoided jail time but was ordered to forfeit nearly $100,000 in assets linked to the investigation of his towing business.

Jeswald, owner of Jeswald Towing on Mahoning Avenue in Austintown, was charged Monday with unauthorized use of property after a six-month investigation by township police and the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge Wednesday in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown.

Police served a search warrant Feb. 7 after an investigation that began in November 2010 into why vehicles towed by Jeswald for the police department seemed to go to the junk yard without proper authorization.

Assistant County Prosecutor Ken Cardinal said between 2008 and 2010, Jeswald illegally junked 239 cars, making a $400 profit per vehicle.

“We calculated it out to the nearest penny to what he benefited by in smashing those cars,” Cardinal said.

As a part of the plea agreement, Jeswald was ordered to forfeit $93,578.06 in assets obtained during that two-year period.

The business owner was also sentenced to 180 days in county jail with 180 days suspended. He was fined $1,000 and placed on non-reporting probation for two years, visiting Judge Scott Hunter said during court Wednesday.

Jeswald and his attorney Dominic Frank declined to comment outside the courthouse.

Cardinal said Jeswald Towing will remain open, though the police department removed the business from its impound service after the initial investigation began.

“It makes absolutely no good sense to wipe out an entire business that was built over two decades just because these guys did a numbskull [thing,]” he said.