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Dellick faces federal gun charge
YOUNGSTOWN
John T. Dellick, 22, of Canfield, a son of Judge Theresa Dellick of Mahoning County Juvenile Court, pleaded innocent Monday to a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The young Dellick entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate George J. Limbert, who ordered Dellick to remain in the custody of U.S. marshals pending a noon Wednesday hearing on the U.S. attorney’s request he be jailed pending disposition of the case.
A federal grand jury had indicted Dellick on that charge Wednesday, and the indictment was unsealed Monday.
Last Wednesday, another U.S. magistrate, William H. Baughman Jr., sealed the indictment until Dellick’s arrest.
Dellick, who was arrested Monday, appeared in court handcuffed, belly-chained and wearing a white T-shirt and tan shorts.
David M. Toepfer, a Youngstown-based assistant U.S. attorney, had asked the indictment be sealed to eliminate the risk Dellick might flee after learning of his federal indictment.
The charge pertains to Dellick’s reportedly having a .25-caliber pistol and ammunition Jan. 3 in a Boardman hotel room after he was convicted of aggravated assault in March 2015 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
A hotel worker cleaning the room the afternoon of Jan. 3 found a loaded .25-caliber handgun and turned it over to management, who called police, according to a police report.
Dellick, who rented the room Jan. 2 and checked out at noon Jan. 3, was the last guest in the room, the report said.
In January, Dellick’s lawyer, David Betras, issued a family statement that said Dellick was planning to kill himself when he checked into the hotel with the gun and that Dellick would continue to receive mental-health treatment.
As to why the U.S. Attorney’s office waited nearly seven months to present the matter to a federal grand jury, while Dellick remains on probation in the common pleas court case, Mike Tobin, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office, would only say that Dellick “meets the criteria for federal prosecution.”
Dellick had pleaded guilty to the aggravated-assault charge, fourth-degree felony, which stemmed from an October 2013 road-rage incident in Canfield, and been sentenced to 18 months’ probation.
In that incident, Dellick was accused of ramming a man’s car, throwing a bottle at the man and his wife, and yelling ethnic slurs at them.
In April 2016, the Ohio Adult Parole Authority booked him into jail after Mill Creek MetroParks police cited him for marijuana possession and littering.
In a probation-violation hearing, visiting Judge Michael Nunner released him from jail to the Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic and ordered him to stay there under electronically monitored house arrest, with release privileges to attend Eastern Gateway Community College.