No prison time for former Lowellville Police Chief
Former Lowellville Police Chief Rick Jamrozik has avoided prison time.
Former Lowellville Police Chief Rick Jamrozik has avoided prison time.
Instead, he was sentenced to five years probation after taking a deal and being found guilty of six crimes; including domestic violence and stealing several thousand dollars from a dead man.
21 News was in the courtroom as Jamrozik's attorney, Gerald Ingram, said, "He is self-rehabilitated. He no longer abuses drugs. He has lost his job, he has lost his vocation, he surrendered to the state of Ohio his OPOTA certificate. He can never serve as a law enforcement officer again. He has lost standing in the community and for the rest of his days his reputation will be forever tarnished."
Numerous photos of domestic violence victim Stacy Kello show how she says she was beaten within an inch of her life on three seperate occasions by Jamrozik.
"There was a time where he fed me some drug in my drink. Literally kidnapped me and left me in the garage for two days," Kello said.
Kello and Jamrozik were in Mahoning County Court for Jamrozik's sentencing after waiting for two years.
Jamrozik was found guilty of not only domestic violence and attempted aggravated assault after taking a plea deal in June, but theft in office for stealing $2,500 from a dead man's home while Jamrozik was a coroner's investigator for Mahoning County.
Jamrozik addressed the court and apologized to everyone except the victims.
"Standing here in this court today, I can only think of one thing; how I let my family, friends and the entire community that I grew up in down. I'm going to have to carry this with me the rest of my life and I was blessed with the opportunity to be the chief of police in the community I grew up in. But I made some poor decisions in life. Life altering decisions. That's why I'm standing here today. I cannot apologize enough to the court, to my family, and my friends, to the community. Just looking forward to moving past this and getting on with the next chapter in my life," Jamrozik said.
Judge Maureen Sweeney decided not to send the former chief to prison. Instead, sentencing him to five years probation, 250 hours of community service, and ordered him to have no contact with the victim. He's also ordered to pay the family of the deceased man he stole from $2,500 in restitution, and he's also ordered to pay Stacy Kello $3,135 in restitution.
Kello had this to say after the sentencing, "I am not exactly happy with him not getting anything jail. I think he needed to serve his time, that he should have for being a peace officer and trying to kill me. And the other things that he did, stealing off somebody who is deceased and their poor family. And that wasn't all that Mr. Jamrozik did that was just all that came to light."
According to Kello, the reason for the beatings was that she had learned of where Jamrozik was getting his money and drugs and when she would ask about it he would allegedly get enraged.
"It was either him or me," Kello said.
But Kello is thankful she walked away with her life and would encourage anyone who is a victim of domestic violence to do the same.
"I would love for all women to know that even though this outcome may not have been two to five years in prison, which it should have been, I would think at least 30 days would have been coherent for women who are victims. It gives you almost no faith to come forward. I understand that for all women and men that are abused. But do it anyway. Because it will save your life," Kello said.