Sebring, OH – 24 March 2019 – Three men who allegedly took chase after a botched repossession and attempted a “pit maneuver” on a fleeing borrower before pulling him over and engaging in a shouting match are now facing charges after police were called to scene in a village in northeast Ohio.
The three men, Timothy C. Tuel, 54, of Alliance; John L. Tuel, 51, of Sebring; and Donald S. Burns, 46, of Minerva — have been charged with attempted grand theft of a motor vehicle and aggravated menacing stemming from a March 12 incident in Sebring in Mahoning County. Timothy Tuel also faces a felonious assault charge.
Timothy Tuel is listed as the General Manager of DriveNow Automotive, a used car dealer in Minerva and Alliance Ohio.
Sebring police detective Chad Redfern was approached by the men after he was dispatched to a street where a maroon Ford Focus was standing erect in a nearby ditch. Outside the car, several men were arguing.
“I got out of my cruiser and was bombarded by John Tuel, Timothy Tuel and Donald Burns who were all three yelling at me at once,” Redfern wrote in a police report. Redfern wrote that he ordered the three men to stop yelling and to tell him one at a time what happened. However, the men began screaming obscenities at another man, whose car was at the center of the dispute.
According to what the men told Redfern, while they were attempting to repossess the car, the other man got into the vehicle and drove off. The three men then pursued the other man in their own vehicles.
The other man told police these drivers repeatedly rammed into his vehicle and attempted a pit maneuver twice, on each side of his car.
An Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper was called to the scene, but the trooper said that because the car’s damage was not the result of a crash but of a malicious act, the state would not write up an incident. The trooper advised Redfern to be conscious of a violation of misuse of dealer plates.
Two days later, a state investigator contacted Redfern and said there was never a repossession title issued or a request to obtain a repo title that would be needed to repossess the car.
On March 15, Redfern contacted the other man, who stated he had been at the hospital all night and wanted to pursue charges against the three men. The prosecutor approved the charges and warrants were issued.
All three men are set to be arraigned Thursday at Mahoning County Court No. 3 in Sebring.
Source: The Columbus Disptach
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