Saturday, October 22, 2011
YOUNGSTOWN
Three Youngstown residents have pleaded innocent in federal court to impersonating federal law-enforcement officers.
A four-count federal grand-jury indictment alleges that between June 2009 and July 2011, Laroy Dock, 57; Milton Willis, 53; and Quin Willis, 50, falsely represented themselves as U.S. special constables and that Dock bought badges for himself and the Willises identifying them as such.
The defendants were released on $20,000 unsecured bonds after being arraigned Friday before U.S. Magistrate George J. Limbert in Youngstown.
On Oct. 9, 2009, Milton Willis impersonated a federal government official and displayed a firearm and identification saying he was a federal law- enforcement officer, the U.S. attorney said.
On July 27, 2011, the three defendants wore uniforms inside a courthouse indicating they were federal law-enforcement officers, the U.S. attorney said.
The federal case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service and is being prosecuted by David M. Toepfer, the Youngstown-based assistant U.S. attorney.
On July 27 and 28, Dock was in the Mahoning County Courthouse for a jury trial before Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on a fourth-degree felony state charge of carrying a concealed weapon.
Before a complete jury was impaneled, however, Dock pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of engaging in the security-services business without a license, which is a first-degree misdemeanor.
Judge Evans imposed a six-month jail term on Dock, all of it suspended; fined him $1,000, of which $500 was suspended; and put him on two years’ probation.
None of the defendants could be reached to comment. A telephone number listed for the Ohio State Police Constable Service at Dock’s North Blaine Avenue residence was disconnected.