Lose some lawn equiment this summer? Valley authorities may have caught the thieves

BOARDMAN

Police and prosecutors say car break-ins and burglaries in the Poland and Springfield area this summer were fueled by the drug trade.

At a news conference Friday at the headquarters of the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force, Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Martin Desmond announced the indictment of 17 people suspected of being involved in the crimes.

Three investigators for the task force — Greg Wilson of Poland Township Police Department, Lt. Tom Williams of Youngstown State University Police Department and Gus Lolakis of Springfield Police Department — worked the case, which resulted in secret indictments of the 17.

Several of them are in custody and others were given a summons to attend their arraignments Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Desmond said members of the ring were breaking into cars, homes and garages from May through August. He said they would either sell the items they stole for cash to buy drugs or trade them directly for drugs.

Wilson said investigators were able to learn quickly that the series of break-ins were connected. But when asked, he said he could not say how investigators were able to figure that out so quickly.

Wilson said the indictments should cut down on car break-ins and other property crimes at least for a while because most of the people who were committing those crimes are either in custody or under scrutiny and don’t want to get into more trouble.

Read more about the case in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.