Records expunged

Records expunged
YOUNGSTOWN -- A judge approved a request Tuesday to expunge the records of two former city policemen who were acquitted of robbery charges in January. Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ordered that all records of the arrest and trials of Mark Rakocy and Christopher Lombard be sealed and the matters be deleted from court records as if they'd never happened. He ordered the city police and law departments, Mahoning County prosecutor's office, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and the FBI to seal records related to the matter. Lombard and Rakocy were accused of roughing up a Struthers man in the bathroom of the Pulse bar on Market Street in March 2001, but a jury found them innocent. Both men were subsequently fired from the police department in July for violating its rules regarding conduct.
Man treated for bite
CAMPBELL -- A city man was taken to a hospital by his wife after being bitten by a dog he had tried to help. The 41-year-old Peters Drive man was squatting near the dog, attempting to calm it after it was hit by a car Tuesday near Coitsville Road and Memorial Circle, police said. The dog bit the man's hand, leaving two bite marks and drawing blood. The dog was turned over to the Mahoning County dog warden.
Car theft attempt
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two would-be robbers stuck a gun in the face of a Hubbard Road woman Tuesday night when she went to her car in the parking lot of Belleria Pizza on Logan Avenue, police said. One of the gunmen ordered her to hand over her car keys. The gunmen got into the car, but it wouldn't start. When the security guard entered the lot, the gunmen, both about 18 and wearing red shirts, ran off, reports show.
3 wolves on the loose
LISBON -- Workers at the Richard E. Flauto Wolf Sanctuary are attempting to return three wolves to the fenced enclosure on the 80-acre site south of here in Center Township. A spokesman at the sanctuary said he notified area law enforcement agencies that the animals were loose, but said the animals are staying on the property. He didn't say how they escaped the fenced-in area. A Columbiana County Sheriff's Department dispatcher said the animals are gray and black, black and white, and all white.
Teen boy is beaten
AUSTINTOWN -- A Poland man told police Tuesday that his son, 15, was beaten in a Laurelwood Place yard last week. The boy told his father that he and two friends were going to a party at a Laurelwood Place home at 11:30 p.m. Friday when they were approached by five people who asked for marijuana. The boy and his friends said no. The boy said that about 10 to 15 people then came out of the house and a fight started. He said he and his friends were knocked to the ground, punched and kicked. The next day, the boy's father took him to St. Elizabeth Health Center, where he was treated.
Pickup driver cited
BERLIN -- James A. Ling, 20, of Salem has been cited for failure to stop at a railroad crossing while a train was approaching. Deputy William Cappabianca said he was in line behind cars and a school bus Tuesday afternoon waiting for the train to pass on U.S. 224 west of Weaver Road when Ling pulled around the line. Ling's pickup truck, as it crossed the tracks, almost collided with the train, Cappabianca said in his report.
Business burglarized
GREEN -- Someone tossed a brake rotor through a front door window at Diamond Auto Wrecking on state Route 62 early today, the sheriff's department said. A search of the building revealed that a change box with $20 in coins had been taken and the alarm box had been knocked off the wall.
Union endorsements
YOUNGSTOWN -- Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court received endorsements for his re-election bid from the Greater Youngstown AFL-CIO Council, the Youngstown Professional Firefighters Local 312, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees United, the Youngstown Police Association, the Fraternal Order of Police Youngstown Lodge No. 28, and the Black Knights Police Association. Judge Krichbaum, a Republican, is being challenged by Democrat James Callen.