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Man arrested in Fitch Hall of Fame case
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
As a court case continues over a man purported to have stolen funds from the Austintown Fitch Hall of Fame, details on what happened remain slim.
Martin P. Dyer, 54, of Maplecrest Drive, was arrested on a felony theft charge April 6. Online court records show a fourth-degree felony charge of grand theft involving between $7,500 and $150,000 from the Austintown Fitch Athletic Hall of Fame.
Austintown police officials did not comment on the case Thursday.
A state complaint details that the theft occurred between June and September 2014. The police report on the case, filed in November 2014, listed the event time frame as April 2014 to Nov. 25, 2014 — the day it was filed.
The Austintown Board of Education gave approval for the HOF group to use its name, but did not have any control over the outside organization.
The redacted police report indicates that there were forged checks and money taken from a bank account.
Dyer is due for a preliminary hearing May 13 in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown.
Tim Kelty, an assistant principal in the Austintown school district, is the founder of the organization and gave an interview for the first time since the police report was filed.
“I was truly blindsided by it all. Frustrated. Hurt,” Kelty said of the investigation. “I did not know [about anything suspicious] until my superintendent got into contact with me that he had been hearing some alleged issues.”
Kelty said he conducted two years of research before the first class of the hall of fame in 2007. From there, a five-person committee, with a few others coming and going, handled the yearly event: Jerry Bruff, Kelty, Dyer, Patrick Smrek and Eddie Kohl.
Kelty said the HOF averaged between 10 and 12 inductions, always including at least one team, coach and benefactor. Kelty left the group after the 2013 banquet. The banquets have been at Immaculate Heart of Mary in the township.
The school board decided to reboot the hall of fame — without past committee members — earlier this year. Former Superintendent Daniel J. Bokesch is the new chairman.
“We kind of knew that was coming, and rightly so, but as far as what we’re doing, we’re not paying” attention to it, Bokesch said of Dyer’s arrest. “I really hope there is some kind of restitution involved,” he said, noting that the new group started at a $0 bank account balance.
Schools Superintendent Vincent Colaluca noted that there is “a long process” for the court case. “At this point, I’m disappointed that there were some inappropriate things going on with the dollars” of an outside organization, he said.
“It was beyond an athletic hall of fame — it became a community event. We had these great conversations with past” alumni and connected, Kelty recalled. “We were from the same schools, the same neighborhoods.”