Boardman restaurateur Michael Alberini pleaded "not guilty" to criminal and traffic charges after allegedly leaving the scene of a traffic accident, and then refusing to cooperate with police investigating the crash.

The owner of Michael Alberini’s restaurant turned himself in at the Boardman Police Department on Wednesday and was arraigned Thursday on charges of obstructing official business, hit skip, and failure to control his vehicle. Another court hearing is scheduled in October.

According to a police report, an SUV was involved in an accident along Hitchcock Road in Boardman on the night of August 31.

Police say a witness reported following the SUV to Alberini’s home on nearby Squirrel Hill Drive, where officers say they found a damaged SUV in the garage.

The police report says Alberini stayed inside the home as he spoke to an officer through an open door, claiming his SUV had struck a rock and “would take care of it.”

The officer responded by saying that the “rock” was a boulder five feet in diameter and had been moved ten feet during the crash.

Police say they wanted to speak to Alberini further, but he closed the door and refused to answer it again.

This isn’t Alberini’s first brush with the law.  Last year he was given a suspended sentencing after pleading guilty to a charge of menacing.  A few months later Alberini was given seven days of house arrest and ordered to perform community service for a probation violation.