One-time Warren school board candidate, activist indicted again on theft charge

June 2, 2016 at 9:37a.m.

WARREN

Roderick L. Lewis Jr., a 2013 Warren Board of Education candidate and onetime community activist, has been indicted a second time on theft-related charges.

Lewis, 25, of Stewart Drive Northwest, will be arraigned in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Wednesday on one count of felony theft, accused of stealing $3,000 from a young couple by pretending to be the seller of a home on Stewart Drive that he did not own.

Warren police said a woman, 20, of Maplewood Street Northeast and her fiance put $3,000 down and were to pay $450 per month rent for a furnished home they were going to buy on land contract.

They became suspicious about the deal and reported it to police, who determined that Lewis was posing as a real estate representative for Built Rite Enterprise named Larry James Jr., and that the house is actually in an estate.

If convicted, he could get up to a year in prison. The new charge also could trigger a probation violation.

Lewis was sentenced to 60 days in the Trumbull County jail in July 2014 for stealing from an elderly woman.

Lewis, known in 2009 and 2010 for school-supply giveaways he and his family carried out and other projects that earned him a community award, pleaded guilty to five theft-related felony offenses.

Howland police, who investigated the 2013 crimes, said a woman, 92, and her niece called them regarding the older woman losing her purse at the Kohl’s Department Store and finding out that fraudulent charges of about $2,050 had been made using her credit cards that day at Walmart and Kmart.