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Third person arraigned in theft ring case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A third person police say was involved in a city-based theft ring that struck in several counties was arraigned in Municipal Court on Wednesday.
Louis Justice, 24, is in the Mahoning County jail on a $25,000 bond after being arraigned in Municipal Court before Magistrate Anthony Sertick.
Justice and two other city people already in custody as part of the ring —28-year-old Alvin Tucker and Jamealla Crafter, 20 — are accused of stealing classic cars and lawn equipment from several Ohio counties, including Cuyahoga, Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Portage.
The three people charged all face single counts of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a second-degree felony. Crafter and Tucker were arraigned March 19 and waived preliminary hearings. Their cases have been bound over to a Mahoning County grand jury. They also are free after posting $25,000 bonds.
There are others who have yet to be charged.
The investigation was coordinated by the Ohio State Highway Patrol in Cleveland because of the number of vehicles and other equipment taken across a large area, said Sgt. Mike Russell of the patrol.
A complaint filed in municipal court says the ring broke into a McDonald home March 13, 2013, and took a Corvette, Ford Fusion, a crossbow and a muzzle loader. A couple of weeks before, on Feb. 25, 2013, they broke into a Ridge Road home and took a 1967 Chevrolet Nova and a golf cart and trailer. The cart and trailer were dumped on the South Side, according to the complaint.
The complaint also lists two thefts in North Canton on March 13, 2013. In the first one, the members of the ring are accused of breaking into a storage facility and taking a classic car and truck and two ATVs, which later were sold to a person on Hillman Avenue. Later, they broke into a North Canton landscaping business and took two dump trucks.
Investigators by this time had enough information for a warrant and placed a GPS on a vehicle that belonged to a relative of Tucker’s and tracked the ring to an Olmstead Falls landscaping business, but the complaint does not say what, if anything, was taken there. They then secured a search warrant for Tucker’s home on LaClede Avenue, where stolen lawn equipment and power tools were found.
Russell said there were far more burglaries than were listed in the complaint but he was not sure of an exact number. He said the members of the ring knew what they were looking for.
“They planned their targets,” Russell said.
He said that by branching out and going to other areas they can draw less attention to themselves than if they stayed in their own neighborhood, Russell said.
The complaint also says that all the planning for the thefts took place in Youngstown, and the goods were taken back to Youngstown.