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

June 3, 2016 at 12:02a.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 actually is 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 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.

Howland police said Lewis impersonated a police officer while talking to the victim on the telephone later and induced her to put her new credit card in the mailbox for him to “run it through the police station.” More fraudulent charges then appeared on the new card, police said.

Also indicted was Johnny L. King, 40, of Canton, on charges of aggravated burglary, felonious assault, kidnapping and aggravated robbery, all with a specification that he is a repeat violent offender.

The charges stem from an April incident at an apartment on Holly Drive in Girard in which he’s accused of assaulting a woman. If convicted, he could get about 50 years in prison.

Also indicted was David J. Schmitt, 18, of Watson-Marshal Road in McDonald, on three counts of rape. Each charge carries a possible life prison sentence.

McDonald police said the offense occurred April 24 and involved a girl, 11. McDonald police were notified by the McDonald school district April 29 of the allegation.