Vandals who coated Northfield Center Township firefighting gear with a substance thought to be urine didn’t use “human substances,” investigators have determined.
Summit County sheriff’s deputies suspected in September that vandals had urinated on the gear at the former Northfield Center/Sagamore Hills Fire District substation, causing more than $15,000 in damage. Detectives sent samples to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification, which determined the substance wasn’t human in nature.
“Basically, we’ve run into a dead end,” said sheriff’s Inspector Bill Holland. “All they were able to tell is that it’s not human. It could have been from an animal or something else.”
No fingerprints were found at the scene, and security cameras at the fire department are live-feed only.
Authorities said investigators determined who wrote taunting messages at the township fire station at 60 W. Aurora Road alongside the damaged turnout gear, but charges have not been filed. If they were, they’d probably be minor misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges.
In an email to Northfield officials obtained by the Beacon Journal, Lt. Scott Cottle said investigators have a “gut feeling who the suspect is” in the turnout gear damaging, “but he and his attorney have refused to comment.”
For now, detectives say they’ve exhausted all leads.
“We believe we have done everything we can to determine who damaged fire department equipment,” Cottle wrote.
In September, officials said they believed the urine damage was an act of retaliation.
The vandalism came a month after Northfield Center voters overwhelmingly denied a levy to fund a township fire department following an announcement earlier in the year that Sagamore Hills and Northfield townships would end their joint department.
The levy’s failure meant Northfield had to enter an agreement with Macedonia Fire Department for fire services.
Some firefighters were let go in the transition. One or more of the former firefighters is thought to have been involved in the vandalism.
Northfield Trustee Paul Buescher said in a newsletter that the vandalism caused $15,149.88 in damage. Insurance covered the bulk of the damage. The township only paid a $250 deductible.
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ and on Facebook @JournoNickGlunt .