Man suspected in tire-changing scam in Boardman parking lots

Staff report

BOARDMAN

A man arrested in Boardman this week on an out-of-state warrant also is a suspect in a case of damaging tires and then offering to repair them for money.

Michael J. Dallman, 61, of Doylestown, Pa., is charged with a parole violation in Bucks County, Pa., and falsification after he gave Boardman police a false birth date when being questioned Thursday, according to reports.

Police were called to Aldi, 6600 South Ave., about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday for suspicious activity. A 58-year-old woman told officers she left the grocery store and an unidentified woman approached her and told her she had a flat tire. That woman insisted her husband could help change the tire, even though the driver said she had AAA coverage. The driver gave the man $10 for changing her tire, police said.

Police then spoke to the female observer who called them to Aldi. The 69-year-old woman told police she recognized the couple as the same who helped her change a tire Dec. 29 at Target in the Shops at Boardman Park.

That woman said she paid the couple $20, and when she later ordered a new tire, mechanics said the tire was slashed near the rim and wasn’t damaged while driving, according to reports.

A short while later on Thursday, an officer spotted a man changing a tire in the parking lot of Marc’s, 7121 Tiffany Blvd., and noticed an elderly women in the driver’s seat. The man was identified as Dallman, police said. The elderly woman said a woman in a nearby car offered the man’s services to change the tire.

Police took that woman’s information, but she and Dallman haven’t been charged in the tire- changing scam. A similar tire-changing incident was reported in October.