YOUNGSTOWN Man taking walk is bitten by Rottweiler

The dog owner made news a month ago with the indictment of the Ayers Street Playas.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Vicious dogs continue to roam the streets.
A loose Rottweiler on the South Side bit 64-year-old Stanley H. Lutz and his toy collie-chow dog as they walked on Irma Street on Tuesday evening.
Lutz, of Pointview Avenue, was treated at St. Elizabeth Health Center for bites to his right hand and forearm.
Lutz told police that when the Rottweiler approached and attacked, he managed to fend off the dog with a shovel. The animal's owner and police arrived within minutes.
The owner, Rodney J. Moses, 26, of Erie Street, took the dog to 1937 Pointview. Moses told police that the dog had somehow broken loose from inside the house.
Moses had no paperwork to show that the Rottweiler had been registered or vaccinated. Police issued him a misdemeanor vicious-dog citation. Moses was due in municipal court today for arraignment.
Other matters: Exactly one year ago today, he appeared in municipal court to pay fines and costs in a 1997 gambling case, records show.
Moses made news a month ago when a Mahoning County grand jury indicted him and 13 other members of the Ayers Street Playas. The indictment contains charges of criminal gang activity and trafficking in crack. Moses posted $50,000 bond when arrested March 5 and the jail released him that day.
Girl knocked down: Elsewhere Tuesday, just before 7 p.m., a Rottweiler knocked down a 4-year-old girl walking on Nelson Avenue. The girl told police that after she fell, the dog ripped at her jacket and tore it in four places.
Neighbors in the East Side neighborhood managed to get the dog off her and chained it. The child was not bitten.
The dog's owner was not at home when police checked. Officers spoke to the man's stepdaughter about the consequences of not having the dog confined.
Loose animals: Police also went to Stephens Street on Tuesday evening in response to a complaint about loose dogs in the West Side neighborhood. Officers found two medium-sized dogs without collars in the yard of 369 Stephens. The officers shouted for the dogs to go inside the house, which they did.
Because no one was home, police tied a shoelace around the screen door handle and mail slot to hold the door closed. The dogs appeared very thin and one had a large patch of hair missing from its right side, reports show. Police contacted Dave Nelson, Animal Charity humane investigator, who said he would check on the dogs.
Also Tuesday in municipal court, Zeriah Cheatham of Parker Street and Frederick McCormick of East Florida Avenue pleaded innocent to dog-related charges and had trial dates set.