STRUTHERS Trials set for 2 suspects in home damage
The men are accused of damaging cars.
STRUTHERS -- Judge James R. Lanzo of municipal court here has set trial dates for two men accused of criminal damage at a city home early Sunday morning.
The judge set a trial date of Nov. 20 for Thomas Nicholas Bergagna, 18, of Misty Woods Court, Struthers, and June 6, 2003, for Karl Edwin Gruhlkey, 18, of McKinley Way, Poland.
Both men are charged with criminal damage at a Rocky Ledge Lane Home about 1:53 a.m. Sunday.
Police reports say officers stopped the men as they ran from the Church of Christ on state Route 616.
Police were looking for suspects in a robbery. Bergagna was bleeding from a cut on his right hand and was carrying a knife and pliers, police said.
Police followed the footprints the men had left in the night-time dew and discovered they had come from a residence on Rocky Ledge Lane where two automobiles had been vandalized. Both vehicles, a 1999 Dodge Stratus and a 1991 Chevrolet Cavalier, had shattered rear windows and punctured tires.
The owner of the residence told police the men had been his guests earlier, but they were asked to leave after he suspected they stole alcoholic beverages from his kitchen and then became involved in an argument with other guests. Gruhlkey admitted to police that an argument had taken place and that he and Bergagna had been asked to leave.
The police report says Gruhlkey also told police that he and Bergagna returned to the residence and smashed the car windows.
Each was released after posting $250 bond.