By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page A1 The FBI is investigating a former employee of the United Way of Greater Toledo for allegedly stealing nearly $300,000 in donor funds, officials said yesterday. “It’s [one] employee who, from my perspective, was breaking the law,” Robert Lucas, the organization’s president, said. United Way officials would not […]
Category: Blade | Criminal justice
Underage drinking drops, but teen drivers still dying; Toledo area looks for better ways to fight alcohol use
By Joshua Benton and Kelly Lecker Blade Staff Writers Page A1 As a rule, teenagers do not need much of a reason to party. But on March 22, there was plenty to celebrate. Gary Walbolt was turning 18. The celebration would turn deadly within hours for Gary and two of his closest friends. The three […]
Officials won’t have to testify about trucker’s crash charges
By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page 17 Lucas County prosecutors will not be forced to testify about why they decided to charge a Toledo truck driver with two counts of involuntary manslaughter for his role in an accident in August that killed a mother and her daughter. Judge Ruth Ann Franks made that ruling […]
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Threat suspect in Sylvania is ‘a good kid’
By Joshua Benton and Mark Reiter Blade Staff Writers Page 1 An honor student with no previous disciplinary record is facing charges of inducing a panic after he allegedly threatened to blow up Sylvania’s Northview and Southview high schools. “He’s a good kid who made a bad choice,” said Kevin Gorman, principal of Northview, where […]
Arrest made in Sylvania threat; Northview senior held in web warning; Schools shut
By Mike Bartell and Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writers Page 1 An 18-year-old student at Sylvania Northview High School was arrested last night and charged with inducing panic after an Internet threat stating Sylvania would suffer the same bloody fate as Littleton, Colo., caused the district’s two high schools to be closed today. Sylvania Superintendent […]
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Lake Twp. eatery sued for bias by out-of-town bowling group
By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page 19 Twenty-two African-American bowlers from Maryland have filed suit against a Wood County restaurant, charging that the staff discriminated against them when they stopped for dinner during the summer. The suit, filed yesterday in federal court in Toledo, alleges that they were denied service given to white customers […]
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Death of ex-Toledoan confirmed; Autopsy indicates remain are of woman missing since spring
By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page 17 CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The skeletal remains that were found in a rural North Carolina county Wednesday are definitely those of Peggy Carr, the Toledo native who disappeared in April, the state medical examiner’s office here has determined. An autopsy yesterday morning made the identification, Bladen County […]
Troopers run for border in annual pigskin pranks
By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page 1 They won’t be meeting on just the field tomorrow. If tradition holds, Ohioans and Michiganders will be meeting under a flagpole on Airport Highway. Or in a parking lot in Monroe, armed with bumper stickers. Or maybe at the state line. For state troopers in both states, […]
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6 arrested in drug bust at GM Powertrain plant
By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page 18 A yearlong investigation into drug dealing at the GM Powertrain plant on Alexis Road culminated in an afternoon drug bust and six arrests yesterday. Nearly two dozen Toledo police officers converged on the facility at 4 p.m., then went inside with half a dozen drug-sniffing dogs to […]
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Escapee admitted bank holdups
By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page 20 Scott Kelly Hansen, the bank robber who escaped from federal custody Friday, had pleaded guilty to a string of bank robberies earlier this year. On Nov. 4, Hansen pleaded guilty to four heists, including three in northwest Ohio: one in Toledo, one in Findlay, and one in […]