Bond set in homicide

Bond set in homicide
YOUNGSTOWN -- Municipal Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr. set bond at $10,000 cash or surety for Lorin N. Charlton, 20, of East Midlothian Boulevard on misdemeanor charges of negligent homicide and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle. Charlton is accused of shooting his twin brother, Lawrence, as the two rode in a car early Tuesday on the South Side. Loren Charlton told police the shooting was accidental.
Assault case
YOUNGSTOWN -- Reuben L. Smith, 44, accused of beating Youngstown schools Superintendent Ben McGee, will be back in municipal court Jan. 17 for a preliminary hearing on a felonious assault charge and a pretrial hearing on a misdemeanor aggravated menacing charge. Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr. set bond at $1,000 on the misdemeanor, with 10 percent allowed to be posted. Records don't show a bond set for the felony. McGee told police that Smith, of Lakewood Avenue, hit him in the school board parking lot Monday morning.
Appliances stolen
STRUTHERS -- Terry Semach of Semach Northside Television on Youngstown-Poland Road reported to police Monday the theft of two washers and dryers valued at $1,550. Semach told police the appliances had been ordered over the telephone Nov. 8 with a credit card and picked up by two men. The card holder, who lives in Bristolville, went to the business Saturday to report that she did not make the purchase and does not know the man who did.
Child endangering
AUSTINTOWN -- A 29-year-old woman was charged by police with two counts of child endangering today after her two young children were left unsupervised in their Compass West apartment. A 3-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy were asleep in the apartment. Police left the children in the care of the woman's 34-year-old boyfriend. An Ohio State Highway Patrol officer arrested the woman at about 3:15 a.m. at the corner of Four Mile Run Road and Mahoning Avenue on a charge of driving under the influence. The woman said she had left her children home alone while she drove to Liberty Township to pick up her boyfriend, who was in the passenger seat. The boyfriend took police to the apartment.
Knives at school
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two boys who took knives to West Elementary School on Tuesday were arrested and taken to the juvenile justice center, charged with conveyance of a weapon on school premises. Confronted by the principal, an 11-year-old Manchester Avenue boy, who had signed out of school for a dentist appointment then returned with a large stainless steel folding knife, said he was returning it to a friend but only knew the friend's first name. A 10-year-old Richview Avenue boy brought a large knife wrapped as a Christmas present.
Drug charges
AUSTINTOWN -- Police arrested a Youngstown man early today after receiving a tip from a resident concerned about drug activity on Westchester Drive. The man, 33, of Ferndale Avenue, is charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He also was cited with having an open container of alcohol in his car. Police noticed a vehicle backing into the carports at the Westchester Apartments at about 1:20 a.m. Police had previously received a tip about drug activity in the apartments. The Ferndale Avenue man later came out of the apartment building and approached the car. Police said they noticed a bulge under the man's jacket. When the man was searched, police found a box of sandwich bags, a scale and a plastic bag containing suspected marijuana.
Car not returned
AUSTINTOWN -- The owner of a Mahoning Avenue car dealership told police that a Kenmar Court man lied about a family inheritance Monday to receive a car. The owner of Vintage Auto told police that the man came to the dealership and took a 1997 Ford Taurus on a test drive. The man then told the dealership owner that he had inherited money and he wanted to buy the car using a credit card. The credit card was declined, however. The man told the dealership owner that the card was new and it wouldn't be active for a day. The dealership owner agreed to let the man take the car, provided he return Tuesday to work out the final details of the sale. The man has yet to return with the car. The man's family later called the dealer and told him that the inheritance does not exist.