Ex-Ford worker accused of stealing $500,000 in parts

ELYRIA — A Sheffield man has been indicted on felony theft and receiving stolen property charges for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of parts from the Ford Ohio Assembly Plant.

Avon Lake detectives said Joseph Jankulovich, 48, stole thousands of OEMS tire sensors, parts which are exclusive to Ford plants, as well as an unspecified number of Snap-On tools, over a yearlong period starting in October 2012.

Detectives presented last week evidence to a grand jury which returned an indictment on Friday.

Det. Tim Schleicher, who headed the investigation, said officials from Ford approached Avon Lake police after learning of the thefts, which occurred in the Avon Lake portion of the plant, which also spans Sheffield Lake and Sheffield.

Schleicher said the Ohio Assembly Plant unexpectedly ran out of the tire sensors in September 2013 and line production was temporarily halted until more sensors were flown in from Michigan by helicopter.

“That’s kind of how they discovered this,” Schleicher said.

Schleicher said Ford was missing about 8,000 of the sensors, valued at more than $500,000. Detectives initially brought a receiving stolen property charge against Jankulovich’s wife in May 2014 but dropped that charge when it was realized how large the scope of theft was.

Items were being sold on eBay to an account registered using Jankulovich’s wife’s first initial and her maiden name. The tire sensors were sold in sets of four starting in October 2012, Schleicher said, and more than 5,000 were sold by the time the investigation began in November 2013.

Money was directed into a PayPal account, which was tied to Jankulovich’s bank account, Schleicher said, and parts were all mailed with a return address of Jankulovich’s mother.

Schleicher said Jankulovich denied stealing the parts or selling stolen property online when he was brought in for questioning in February 2014.

But detectives and Ford officials had ordered and received parts several times from the online operation over a span of three months before questioning him, Schleicher said.

“There was even a sale on the day we brought him in for questioning,” Schleicher said, adding that sales online also stopped that day.

The investigation took so long to complete and bring before a grand jury because it involved a massive amount of paperwork and each part had to be cross-checked to verify its origin.

Each tire sensor had a lot number that specifically linked it back to the Ohio Assembly Plant, ruling out any possibility that the parts sold online came from anywhere else, Schleicher said.

“It was a good paper trail,” Schleicher said.

Detectives were unable to determine whether all of the Snap-On tools stolen actually came from the Ohio Assembly Plant.

A Ford spokesperson declined to comment on the thefts, but Schleicher said Jankulovich was terminated from his position there once the company learned of the thefts.

Jankulovich did not return a call seeking comment, and court records indicate he doesn’t yet have an attorney although he did turn himself in to police and was able to post bond Monday.

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