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Former Warren policeman pleads guilty to theft in plea agreement
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Reuben Shaw, who was fired in May from his job as a patrolman with the Warren Police Department for purportedly stealing a car, pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Shaw, 48, was indicted on three felonies, including theft in office, grand theft and breaking and entering. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft, dereliction of duty, falsification and criminal trespassing.
He will be sentenced after the Trumbull County Adult Probation Department conducts a pre-sentence investigation.
Shaw, a 24-year veteran, was accused of stealing a 1969 Chevrolet Nova from a locked garage at a home on Kenwood Drive Southeast in June 2013 and having it towed to a garage he controlled.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Warren Police Department Internal Affairs officer investigated the matter. Internal affairs said Shaw had been called to the Kenwood Drive Southwest home to investigate trespassing.
He returned later in the day with another person who was not a police officer and got inside the locked, detached garage. That investigation also noted that Shaw told other officers he wanted the car to restore it.
As part of the plea agreement, Shaw has agreed to resign from the police department and not challenge his termination, dismiss his complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and give up his certification to serve as an Ohio police officer.
Chris Becker, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, said the reduction of two of the felony charges to misdemeanors and elimination of the felony theft in office charge doesn’t greatly affect the possible punishment Shaw could receive.
“They are probably probationable offenses either way,” Becker said, noting that the felonies were all low-level and generally don’t produce a prison sentence.
Shaw only had the car for 24 hours and didn’t try to conceal it, Becker added.
At Shaw’s first hearing in common pleas court, about a dozen men, including several pastors, questioned the fairness of Shaw’s firing and criminal charges, saying other Warren police officers have committed crimes but were never charged.