Stolen trailer with ship returned to owner

By jeanne starmack

starmack@vindy.com

boardman

The Mahoning County Republican Party’s ship has sailed — right over to the Boardman Police Department.

The ship, a homemade replica of a Boston Tea Party vessel, was sitting on a trailer Friday morning in front of the Republican Party’s headquarters on U.S. Route 224 near West Boulevard.

It was sitting pretty, until the owner of Midway Amusement in Coitsville drove by and recognized the trailer it was sitting on as one that was stolen from the business in June 2011, said Capt. Donald Hawkins of Boardman police.

It was stolen from a storage site on McGuffey Road in Youngstown, Hawkins said.

The owner of the business came to the police immediately, Hawkins said.

Police went to investigate and determined it was indeed Midway Amusement’s trailer.

“It was a homemade, hand-built trailer that they recognized,” he said.

Police took the trailer, ship and all, to the station on Market Street.

By early afternoon, the ship was being taken off the trailer.

The owner of the ship, Budd Brothers, now has it back.

Police are investigating the route the stolen trailer took from McGuffey Road to the GOP headquarters, Hawkins said.

Brothers said he told the police that someone gave him the trailer as a swap for some roofing shingles.

Brothers used to own a business that sold roofing shingles, but it closed years ago, he said.

Brothers said the police told him to take the ship. “I put it away,” he said.