Judge rules against former Bazetta police chief having criminal record sealed

Staff report

WARREN

A judge has ruled against the sealing of records for a former Bazetta Township police chief who was convicted of several offenses in the 1990s, including theft in office.

Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas court ruled Monday that Reggie Potts of Howland is not eligible for his records to be sealed.

That’s because his offenses were not from the same indictment or criminal complaint, or from the same guilty plea or from the same proceeding – and are not from the same criminal acts committed within a three-month period.

This is the third time Potts has sought to have his criminal records sealed.

Potts was convicted of felony theft in office in 1993 for a 1987 offense.

He was convicted of misdemeanor falsification in 1993 for an incident that occurred in 1989. And he was convicted of misdemeanor records tampering in 1994 for a 1991 offense.

He was fired as Bazetta chief after being convicted.

Diane Barber, an assistant county prosecutor, said Potts should only be allowed to have his criminal records sealed if his offenses were related to each other.

They were not related to each other and were spread out over nearly five years, Barber said.

Potts’ theft in office involved letting a friend borrow a car loaned to the police department.

The falsification was writing a letter indicating a man had worked for the Bazetta Police Department who had not.

The records tampering related to police department drug records, according to documents.