A close call for girl

A close call for girl
AUSTINTOWN -- A 15-year-old Rhode Island Drive girl told police that a Penny Lane man tried to remove her clothes while she was sleeping Tuesday.
The girl, who was staying at her friend's Woodland Trace home, said she woke up around noon and found the Penny Lane man, 29, trying to pull down her shorts. The girl told police that when she sat up, the man ran out of the house.
The friend who lived at the Woodland Trace home told police the man also tried to take off her clothes while she was sleeping on July 16. She said that when she woke up, the man ran from the home.
The Woodland Trace girl said the man is friends with her brother. Police are investigating.
Cigarette thief tackled
AUSTINTOWN -- A 16-year-old Idlewood Road boy and his mother tackled a man who stole two cartons of cigarettes Tuesday evening from Save A Step on Mahoning Avenue. Both the boy and his mother work at the store.
The boy's mother said the man took the cigarettes from the store around 7 p.m. The boy and his mother then ran out of the store and tackled the thief, who got up, picked up the cigarettes, got into a car and drove away. Police are investigating.
Facing firearm charge
AUSTINTOWN -- Police arrested a Youngstown man early this morning after finding a loaded handgun in a car he had been sitting in.
Tyree Mitchell, 23, of Sherwood Avenue is charged with improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, possession of drug paraphernalia and drug abuse marijuana. He is set to appear in Mahoning County Court here Thursday.
Police said they stopped to talk to Mitchell after they found him sitting alone around 2 a.m. in a car in the parking lot of Kerrybrook Apartments on South Raccoon Road. They said they smelled suspected marijuana when they talked with Mitchell.
Reports state that police then searched the car and found the handgun under the front seat. They also said they found a scale and a cigar butt containing suspected marijuana in the car, as well as two plastic bags containing suspected marijuana in Mitchell's pocket.