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Sheriff’s office uncovers major fencing operation
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Search warrants served at Ellsworth and Youngstown homes have uncovered one of the largest fencing operations seen in the area, Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene said Monday.
During a news conference with Maj. Jeff Allen, Greene said the items seized using search warrants last week helped both his department and others across the region clear up unsolved burglary cases.
Found were stolen landscaping and roofing equipment, as well as wide bed trailers and just about everything in between, including generators and air compressors.
Greene and Allen would not say what led investigators to ask for the first warrant – which led to the second – only that they were unprepared for the scope of what they found.
“What it actually turned out to be is one of the biggest fencing operations we have ever seen, at least in the history of the sheriff’s office,” Greene said.
Most of the equipment was found when the first warrant was served at a Diehl Road home in Ellsworth. Information there led investigators to get a warrant that was served Friday at a Coitsville-Hubbard Road address in Youngstown. Found there was $10,000 cash and 21/2 pounds of suspected marijuana.
Two men at the Ellsworth home are suspects but have not yet been charged and are not yet in custody. Allen said investigators are trying to determine the worth of the goods taken, which would determine what level of felony charge they would be facing.
Greene said when they started their investigation, they alerted area police departments in case they may have some unsolved property cases. Greene said detectives from Weathersfield, Boardman and Liberty townships accompanied sheriff’s deputies while serving the warrants and they were able to clear up cases in their respective areas.
Allen said sheriff’s detectives have also been able to clear cases in Canfield Township, Ellsworth and Berlin Center, where they have jurisdiction, and Youngstown detectives will also be checking over what was seized to see if they can clear any cases they have.
Allen said it is difficult to put an overall dollar amount on the items found. He said they range from mowers valued from $8,000 to $15,000 all the way down to power tools.
Allen said what’s really pleasing about the case is he is able to return equipment to people who made a major investment, either personally or for a business.
“To get that back to them is awesome to me,” Allen said.