Playing With Fire

Somewhere as we enter Easter Weekend, Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge R. Scott Krichbaum must be seething.

It was just last July that Krichbaum questioned the wisdom of granting a request by an unknown police agency to allow a man to work as a police informant in exchange for a light sentence.

That man, Bobby Mock, instead stole everything that was not nailed down, according to prosecutors, and when police tried to arrest him, he held them at bay for several hours at a Belmont Avenue hotel.

Thursday, a Mahoning County grand jury indicted several people they say were involved in a wide ranging theft ring. At the top of the list was Mock.

Prosecutors said last summer after Mock was back in custody that he did good work for the police. But allowing a severe drug addict almost carte blanche is like, well... fill in your own metaphor. I can't really think of one.

A police officer I know told me last year that Mock's knowledge of the criminal underworld was almost umparalled. I hope it was worth it to the people who had things stolen from them.

It should make judges think twice before considering whether someone who has already broken the law should be trusted to uphold it while trying to catch other lawbreakers.