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AG DeWine: Comments about Belinky will come later
By Kalea Hall
boardman
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine would not comment Wednesday on the recent resignation and the investigation of former Mahoning County Probate Judge Mark Belinky.
He said that he will comment on those issues in a few days.
“I really cannot, at this point, talk about the judge’s resignation or the investigation,” DeWine said at a news conference after a meeting he had with the Mahoning Valley Chiefs of Police Association.
Late Friday afternoon, Belinky sent letters to both Gov. John Kasich and Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor of the Ohio Supreme Court announcing his resignation.
He has been under a cloud of suspicion since Feb. 7, when agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation served warrants at his court office in Youngstown and his Boardman home with the assistance of the FBI and the county sheriff’s office. Charges could include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, tampering with records, bribery, money laundering, theft and theft in office, according to two search warrants.
No charges have been filed against Belinky.
DeWine did discuss what the BCI, which he heads, is doing to help local law enforcement.
DeWine met with more than 30 chiefs and sheriffs from Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties to discuss the heroin epidemic, crimes against children, testing of old rape kits, consumer fraud and “grass roots” efforts to combat crime.
“It’s important because they are our customers,” DeWine said. “We [help them] by helping local law enforcement.”
A main topic of discussion was the heroin problem the Valley is facing and trying to eliminate the larger dealers.
“We created this [heroin] unit because of the large number of deaths,” DeWine said.
There also is a unit specifically for crimes against children, which is aimed at finding people who prey on children through the use of the Internet. DeWine said charges usually are pressed not only for child pornography, but also for molestation.
“For me, this has been a passion for a number of years,” DeWine said.
Before becoming the attorney general, DeWine dealt with several instances of predators preying on children and wanted to put an end to it.
DeWine also has started a special program to test old rape kits.
The Youngstown Police Department, for example, sent 37 tests, and 20 were tested of which nine led to DNA identification of the perpetrator.
“These are kits that have been sitting in police departments,” DeWine said.
Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene, who was one of those among the crowd of law-enforcement representatives, said the sheriff’s department has been able to use the attorney general’s office as a resource on multiple levels.
“My opinion is, the fact that he is here and addresses to us everything the BCI is doing just shows how committed he is to fighting crime,” Greene said.