Ex-Youngstown cop charged in disappearance of $2M

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A Canfield man who once was a Youngstown police officer is under investigation by the federal government for mail fraud.

Peter Luchansky, 59, had a criminal complaint filed against him Wednesday in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio in Akron.

An affidavit filed in federal court in support of the criminal complaint said Luchansky has been the information-technology manager for Spectrum Orthopedics in Canton, an orthopedic surgery practice, since 2005.

The affidavit said that on Aug. 14, an attorney for the company contacted the Canton office of the FBI and said there was $2 million missing from the company and that Luchansky was responsible.

A grand jury is investigating the case. Luchansky was arrested at his Canfield home Wednesday and has a $50,000 bond, according to court records, although it does not say if he posted it. All weapons also were taken from his home as a condition of his bond.

The affidavit says that Luchansky was a police officer in Youngstown until 1983, when he was fired for stealing two bags of shrimp from a grocery store.

For more on the case, read Friday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.