43
Boardman police probe rash of thefts from cars, arrest 3
BOARDMAN
Three men are facing felony charges related to thefts from vehicles, and police are investigating whether the men could have ties to any of the dozen thefts from cars reported in recent weeks.
“It is a possibility that we are looking into,” said Boardman Detective Glenn Patton.
Police were called to the 7300 block of West Boulevard about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday for reports of three men grabbing at car doors and entering them.
When officers arrived, they found three men at the carport at 7376 West Blvd. and only one, Brendan Michael Daviduk, 18, of Struthers, complied with officers’ orders to stop, according to reports.
Two men later identified as Jeffrey Thomas Walker, 27, of Boardman, and Kenneth Morgan Daviduk III, 18, of Youngstown, jumped off the carport roof and ran westbound, police said.
Officers chased the men on foot through a wooded area into the backyards of homes on East Parkside Drive. Kenneth Daviduk, who is listed in reports as Brendan Daviduk’s cousin, surrendered to police in the back yard of 7404 E. Parkside Drive at Taser-point, while Walker had to be pulled out from under the attached deck, records state.
Police found a pair of brown gloves and a case containing seven credit cards that did not belong to any of the men under the deck, police said.
Back at the carport where the case began, officers recovered another set of gloves and a gym bag containing numerous cellphone power cords, inverters, GPS units, flashlights and tools, records show.
Some of the items appear to match what was taken from a Hitchcock Road burglary, in which items were taken from vehicles inside a garage, reported about 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to police reports.
Patton said the biggest safeguard car owners can do to prevent a theft is to lock the doors. Most of the cars that were broken into in the last two weeks were unlocked.
“They don’t want to draw attention to themselves. They usually work in general in the early morning hours between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. They don’t want to wake people up or have a confrontation. If you leave your doors unlocked it makes it easier for them,” Patton said.
The three men face charges including felony receiving stolen property, felony possession of criminal tools and criminal trespass. Walker and Kenneth Daviduk also face charges of obstructing official business and resisting arrest.