LOCAL BRIEFS

Vicodin tablets stolen
BOARDMAN -- Police have charged a 16-year-old township girl with felony theft of drugs after about 40 Vicodin tablets were taken from a Gertrude Avenue home Wednesday afternoon. Reports say the girl visited a teen-age friend whose mother had the prescription painkiller. The pills were missing when the girl left. Officers questioned the girl, who eventually admitted taking the tablets, reports say. Ten tablets were recovered, and the girl either consumed or sold the rest, reports say.
Purse-snatching
BOARDMAN -- Police have charged an 18-year-old Youngstown man with felony theft and misdemeanor drug paraphernalia in a purse-snatching in the Wal-Mart parking lot on Doral Drive Wednesday afternoon. Reports say the man snatched a woman's purse while she was outside the store looking at flowers. Wal-Mart security caught the man and held him for police. When officers searched the man upon arresting him, they found two drug pipes in his pants pocket.
Drugs stolen
CANFIELD -- A Court Street woman told police that a variety of prescription drugs were stolen from her home late Wednesday afternoon. The woman said she left her home around 4:10 p.m. and returned about two hours later. Her front door had been damaged and a basket of prescription medications she usually keeps on the top shelf of a bookcase had been moved. Upon closer inspection, she noticed several pills were missing from the bottles, police reports say. The missing medications included painkillers, anti-depressants and a drug for hyperactivity.
Puppy flim-flam
AUSTINTOWN -- A Strongsville woman told police that she believes she was swindled out of $1,500 when she bought a puppy that was supposed to be a show dog. The woman bought the puppy from a South Roanoke Avenue man who claimed to be a breeder and promised to send the puppy's American Kennel Club registration papers. The woman later discovered that her puppy could not be registered because the breeder had no authority to breed the dog who sired the puppy. Further, an initial visit to the veterinarian revealed the puppy has health problems that could prevent it from becoming a show dog. According to police reports, the breeder would not return the woman's phone calls.
Shots in Austintown
AUSTINTOWN -- Several callers reported hearing gunshots from a Woodhurst Boulevard home around 12:20 a.m. today. A 21-year-old woman told police that an argument broke out at her home and one of the participants pulled out a chrome handgun and fired three to six shots. Police found one empty casing on the ground but no other evidence that shots had been fired.
Child-endangering
AUSTINTOWN -- Deputy sheriffs are investigating a child-endangering complaint in which a 13-year-old Frank Ohl Middle School pupil told authorities that his father held a .357 caliber handgun to his head. The child reported the episode to a school principal, saying his father did it to "put the fear of Jesus into him," police reports show. When contacted via telephone by a deputy scheduling an interview, the father said his child is out of control. When the father went to the Mahoning County Justice Center for the interview, deputies asked if he knew why he had been asked to come there. He replied, "Yeah, because I pulled a gun on my kid." He was then advised of his rights, including a right to remain silent, and told deputies he did not want to speak further.
Arrested in dumping
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two men were arrested after deputy sheriffs said they saw them illegally dump 11 tires into a BFI trash bin on Buckeye off Victor. The men had backed a pickup truck up to the trash bin to unload the tires. An Austintown man, 43, was charged with possession of crack cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia and depositing garbage/rubbish. A Youngstown man was charged with depositing garbage/rubbish and arrested on outstanding motor-vehicle violations and an outstanding charge of hauling more than 10 scrap tires without a license.