David Toledo
At the end of the day, Mayfair residents will have spent more time waiting for justice in the “tire slasher” case than it will take the convicted tire slasher to serve his sentence.
Common Pleas Court Judge Edward C. Wright on Monday ordered David Toledo to serve two years probation and pay about $916 in restitution.
Toledo, 46, formerly of the 4000 block of Aldine St., gained widespread notoriety in early 2012, first as the neighbor who had had enough of all this tire slashing business, then later as the guy who actually slashed the tires on a bunch of his neighbors’ vehicles.
Between January and April 2012, about 50 unattended vehicles were vandalized on the residential blocks near Toledo’s home. As media attention intensified, Toledo told reporters about his work as a volunteer Town Watch member and how he might handle the crook were he to capture him. Toledo famously told one TV crew that he’d like to break the vandal’s hands.
After weeks of investigation, authorities ultimately concluded that Toledo was, in fact, responsible for the punctured tires. Yet, in February, a 12-person jury convicted Toledo of only 15 of the 59 charges that prosecutors had filed against him. Toledo was found guilty of a dozen counts of criminal mischief (a summary offense), along with two counts of possessing an instrument of crime and one count of filing false reports. The jury acquitted Toledo on 44 other counts, prompting defense attorney William Brennan to declare that other Mayfair tire slashers may still be on the loose.
At Monday’s sentencing, Brennan reportedly argued that state sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of restitution plus up to one year in prison. Prosecutors argued for a prison sentence of five to 10 years. ••
