(YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio)— Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Thursday that a former police chief and coroner’s investigator has pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including a charge of theft in office for stealing thousands of dollars from a deceased Youngstown man.
Richard Jamrozik, 42, the former police chief of Lowellville and a former investigator for the Mahoning County Coroner’s Office, pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court today to a felony charge of theft in office and a misdemeanor charge of obstructing official business. He pleaded no contest to a felony charge of attempted aggravated assault and misdemeanor charges of obstructing official business, possession of criminal tools, and domestic violence.
The charges stem from an investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office into allegations that Jamrozik physically abused a former girlfriend. During the course of that investigation, authorities also found that Jamrozik, while working as a coroner’s investigator to remove a dead body from a Youngstown home in 2015, stole more than $2,500 from the deceased man.
A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled, but the defendant’s peace officer certificate will be revoked due to the felony conviction.
The case was prosecuted by the office of Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains with assistance from Ohio Attorney General DeWine’s Special Prosecutions Section.
The U.S. Marshals Service assisted in the investigation.