Shoes tip off officers

A pair of upscale tennis shoes being worn by a man on Bradshaw Avenue proved to be his downfall Tuesday after city police officers arrested him for receiving stolen property, with additional charges pending.

Chief John Lane said Detective Rob Smith and Capt. Darin Morgan have been working non-stop on a rash of burglaries over the past two months in the city and on Tuesday were headed to a report of another one when they noticed David J. Sisco Jr., 22, 709 Marcus St., walking with a woman identified as Rebecca Sisco, 24, address not listed.

David Sisco was reportedly wearing an expensive pair of Nike tennis shoes, and officers recalled one of the burglary victims may have had such an item stolen.

With Morgan detaining David Sisco, Smith went to the place of employment of Amy Barr, where she identified the $130 pair of shoes as having been stolen from her St. Clair Avenue home, Lane reported.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Sisco gave officers permission to search her purse, and a detective saw some credit cards inside, but before he could ask about them, she reportedly said they "belonged to David."

Officers found the cards to be those of another burglary victim, Robert Bloor, a retired city police officer, who had reported numerous items taken from his home, including the service revolver he had used as an officer.

David Sisco was arrested at that point for receiving stolen property and officers asked to search his home, but he declined, and Lane said Smith worked all day Tuesday to obtain a search warrant for the home, which was executed Tuesday evening.

Inside the home, they reportedly found "quite a bit" of stolen property from numerous burglaries. Some items had been sold and recovered by officers prior to search of the house, which also led to Sisco, according to Lane.

He said it is believed Sisco walked through neighborhoods with a baby stroller, knocking on doors, and chose to enter those homes where no one was home.

"He hadn't encountered anyone (at home), but he would have eventually," Lane predicted.

He said more information is being unearthed as Morgan and Smith keep investigating, saying, "There are definitely others involved. Other charges are pending. The hammer's coming down."

Lane continued, "Rob and Darin did an excellent job on this case. I imagine it's very gratifying to them to be able to call these people and return their (stolen) items. How often do you (as a police officer) get to do that?"

David Sisco appeared Wednesday in East Liverpool Municipal Court on the receiving stolen property charge and had a pretrial scheduled Sept. 13, with cash/surety bond set at $15,000. He also was fined $75 for a driving under suspension charge from an earlier case.