Mayfair Tire Slasher found guilty, faces up to 15 years in jail

David Toledo, the man who came to be known as the "Mayfair Tire Slasher," fought back tears Wednesday morning as a jury foreman said 15 times that he was "guilty."

Toledo, 46, who was accused of slashing 49 of his neighbors' car tires between January and April of 2012, faces the possibility of 7 1/2 to 15 years in state prison.

He's scheduled to be sentenced March 24, but until then Common Pleas Judge Edward C. Wright allowed him to remain free on bail, over the objections of prosecutors, who argued that he had three prior DUI convictions.

All of the news was not bad for Toledo, who at the time of the slashings lived on Aldine Street near Teesdale.

The jury of eight women and four men found him not guilty of 44 charges: 37 counts of criminal mischief, four counts of filing false reports and six counts of possession of an instrument of crime.

Of the 15 guilty charges, 12 were for criminal mischief related to slashed tires, two were for possession of an instrument of crime and one was for filing a false report.

"We got a fair jury and we are satisfied with the outcome," Assistant District Attorney Lauren McHale said.

"It's sad, because this is a situation in which these people were waking up every morning not knowing if they were going to be able to go to work or school or to doctors' appointments," Assistant District Attorney Tracie Gaydos said of Toledo's neighbors.

Gaydos said Toledo's motivation seemed to be to "get his name out there, so he could get media attention. At the same time, he was torturing these people on a daily basis," Gaydos added.

Defense attorney William J. Brennan said he believes the number of not guilty verdicts means the jury found that Toledo was not the "Mayfair Tire Slasher."

"The jury, by its verdict, seems to have found that he damaged some tires during a rash of slashings that created a frenzy in that area," he said. "But to call David Toledo the 'Mayfair Tire Slasher,' now would be unfair."

He told the jury that another man who had taken to patrolling the streets of Mayfair was more likely the culprit.

Brennan said state sentencing guidelines call for Toledo to get a probation sentence, which he will ask Judge Wright to render.

Toledo, a high-school dropout who worked as a butcher, had held himself out as a community activist trying to help police catch the slasher in the weeks prior to his arrest in April 2012.