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Kids to score big with items from fake-memorabilia bust
By Justin Wier
CANFIELD
Canfield police really hit a home run when making a traffic stop four years ago.
Items confiscated from a ring dealing in fraudulent sports memorabilia will find a second life in the hands of local kids in need.
“We were able to destroy the signatures on this particular property, but we’re not going to throw it away,” said Canfield Detective Brian McGivern. “We can turn it around and give it back to the community and let these kids enjoy what they don’t have.”
Operation Stolen Base spanned four years and resulted in the convictions of 12 people. The ringleader, Clifton Panezich of Henderson, Nev., was sentenced to six years in prison in April. Canfield Police Chief Chuck Colucci said there were 30,000 victims and more than $2 million worth of merchandise involved in the operation, which started with a traffic stop for a cracked windshield in 2013.
The department had eight shipping pallets stacked 4 feet high with merchandise, McGivern said. Among the items being donated to local agencies are footballs, baseballs and basketballs. There also are baseball gloves and football helmets. Several wooden baseball bats will be donated to Youngstown State University’s baseball team for its practices.
The donations, however, will have to wait until Panezich’s case goes through the appeal process.
“When you’re taking guns off the street, you’re taking drugs off the street – obviously, we destroy that stuff,” said FBI agent Todd Werth. “This is the kind of case where we’re able to give back and put these items to use, and hopefully they’re able to have an effect on these agencies.”
Representatives from the Boys & Girls Club of Youngstown, Compass Family and Community Services and the Mahoning County Veterans Service Commission were at a news conference announcing the donation Friday morning.
“There’s going to be some happy faces,” said Delmas Stubbs, veteran outreach coordinator for the Veterans Service Commission. “I’m happy, too.”
The organization will provide jerseys to the children of veterans in poverty, he said.
Compass will provide sports equipment to children living at the Daybreak Youth Shelter and the Sojourner House Domestic Violence Shelter. Jennifer Gray, an administrative officer for Compass, said they try to recreate normal settings for the kids.
“Part of that includes getting outside and playing,” she said. “So this sporting equipment is going to be great for us.”
The Boys & Girls Club of Youngstown also will receive sports equipment. Unit director Randi Russell said the organization is supportive of all sports.
“[The kids will] be very excited when they see this merchandise and know it will belong to them,” she said.
McGivern underlined the importance of the police department’s giving back to the community.
“That’s what’s important,” he said. “That’s why we do this job, is to make a difference. ... We’re not just here to arrest people.”