Swallowed cocaine

Swallowed cocaine
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County jail inmate James D. Patton, 26, of Cohasset Drive told deputies Sunday that he swallowed a bag of crack cocaine when arrested on a warrant Saturday night.
Patton became ill at the jail and was given a syrup to make him vomit the plastic bag containing 10 rocks of suspected crack, deputies said.
The warrant used to arrest Patton was issued in July for his failure to appear in court on a charge of possession of cocaine.
Robber gets nothing
AUSTINTOWN -- A man carrying two hunting knives got away with no money during a botched robbery at a Mahoning Avenue convenience store when the clerk ran from the business.
Police say a man walked into the True North store on 4200 Mahoning Ave. about 8:10 p.m. Saturday to rob the business. The man, who was wearing a ski mask, gloves, a dark leather jacket and dark jeans, came around the counter holding a hunting knife in each hand and demanding money.
The male clerk then jumped over the counter and out the door into a nearby bar to call police. A man standing outside the store waiting for a bus saw the suspect walk out of the store and head north on North Edgehill Road. No money was taken.
Apartment damaged
AUSTINTOWN -- A fire caused the evacuation of an apartment building on Westchester Drive shortly after midnight Sunday.
Firefighters say an iron fell on a bed in Apartment 117 at 4831 Westchester Drive, starting the fire. The apartment sustained about $11,000 worth of damage. The fire caused heavy smoke to fill up the apartment building.
Christmas Masses
YOUNGSTOWN -- Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 343 Via Mount Carmel, will have a Christmas Vigil Mass at 5 p.m. Tuesday and a midnight Mass.
The church also will have Christmas Day Masses at 10 a.m. and noon.
Shopper mugged
BOARDMAN -- Township police are looking for a man in his 20s who hit a woman in the back of the head and stole her purse Sunday night.
Police reports say the 65-year-old Austintown woman was leaving the Giant Eagle grocery store on Boardman-Canfield Road at about 10:45 p.m. when a man wearing an orange bomber jacket hit her and took the purse.
The purse contained about $400 in cash, reports say.
There was no word on the woman's condition late this morning.
Rape suspected
BOARDMAN -- A Poland woman told township police that she may have been drugged and raped.
Reports say the 33-year-old woman told police someone may have put something in her drink at BW-3 restaurant, causing her to black out.
The woman said she blacked out at 10:30 p.m. Saturday and woke up at 4:30 a.m. Sunday in her car at an unfamiliar address in Austintown.
No suspects are listed.
Taking treasurer's post
SALEM -- Schools Superintendent Dr. David Brobeck will serve as the district's temporary treasurer. He was appointed to the post by the school board, which met Sunday in a special session to make the appointment.
The treasurer's job was left vacant by the Dec. 16 resignation of Ted Cougras. School officials have provided no explanation for Cougras' departure.
They also have declined to explain why the Columbiana County prosecutor's office seized school district financial records several days before Cougras' resignation. Prosecutor Robert Herron was unavailable this morning to discuss the matter.
Police probe scam
NILES -- Police are investigating a scam after a supermarket manager reported an employee was tricked into wiring more than $1,700.
Police reports say an employee of the Tops Friendly Market on U.S. Route 422 received a phone call around 6:30 p.m. Friday from a woman who said she was from Western Union and needed to update computers.
The caller gave the employee a 10-digit code and said she would call back. When she called again, the woman told the employee to test a wire transfer and instructed her to transfer $1,730 from one man for pickup in Atlanta by another man.
When the employee called Western Union to verify the test was successful, she was informed no one from the company had called and that it was a scam.