Guilty plea in sex case

Guilty plea in sex case
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 20-year-old man faces one to five years in jail after pleading guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday to having sexual contact with his underage girlfriend.
Jacob M. Burkholder, Moore Street, Struthers, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact with a minor, a third-degree felony, said assistant prosecutor Deena Calabrese.
A grand jury indicted Burkholder in August 2000 on allegations of having sexual contact with the girl earlier that month, court records show. He had turned 18 a month earlier. She was 12.
Calabrese said the two were boyfriend and girlfriend and authorities learned of the relationship from the girl's mother after the woman reported to police that the girl had run away. The couple had saved up a small sum of money and were staying at a hotel, Calabrese said.
Store owner charged
YOUNGSTOWN -- For the second time, Iqbal Singh, the manager at South Avenue Gas Mart at 2325 South Ave., has been charged with selling alcohol to an underage person.
Vice squad officers had a 19-year-old undercover cooperating witness enter the store Wednesday evening. Singh sold the teenager a six-pack of beer, police said.
In January, Singh was charged with underage sales. He pleaded no contest to a reduced charge in April. Judge Robert P. Milich found Singh guilty, gave him 30 days in jail, suspended it all, fined him $100 and placed him on one year's nonreporting probation.
Carjacking reported
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 45-year-old Almyra Avenue man called police from a pay phone on North Garland Avenue at 12:45 a.m. today and said he was the victim of a carjacking.
The man said he had left a relative's house and had stopped for the traffic light at McGuffey Road and Berkley Avenue when two young men approached on foot. He said he was ordered out of his 1987 Jeep Cherokee at gunpoint.
Assault hearing set
CAMPBELL -- Judge John Paul Almasy of municipal court here set a preliminary hearing for Tuesday for Gamel S. Hassen, 40, of Morley Avenue on charges of felonious assault, discharging a firearm into a habitation, criminal damaging and endangering.
Hassen was arraigned on the charges Tuesday.
Police reports say Hassen fired a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun at a 20-year-old houseguest about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday after an argument.
The bullet hit the siding of a house across the street. The houseguest was uninjured.
Apartment shot at
YOUNGSTOWN -- Shots were fired into an apartment in the 2600 block of Tyrell Street on the city's West Side, and two bullets lodged in a bedroom wall, just above a baby's crib, police said.
The 19-year-old resident told police she was in the living room when she heard the gunfire about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Accused of theft
WARREN -- The former chief financial officer at Kirila Contractors of Brookfield has been arrested on theft charges.
Trumbull County Sheriff Thomas Altiere said Robert P. Mild of Stewart-Sharon Road, Brookfield, is accused of embezzling more than $650,000.
Mild worked there for about 10 years, the sheriff said.
He was to be arraigned today in common pleas court.
Award for business
LIBERTY -- The first Liberty Beautification and Safety Award will be given to a township business at the trustees meeting Monday.
The award, sponsored by Liberty Business Association and the police department, will be given twice a year to establishments promoting community service, safety, cleanliness and general attractive appearance.
This and other activities being planned by the business association are designed to improve and promote the business district, primarily along the Belmont Avenue corridor.
Public indecency charge
NILES -- Police have arrested a 13-year-old boy who they say exposed himself to a teenage girl.
The girl's father told police the boy was in the yard of a Mason Street home when he exposed himself to the girl at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The boy is charged with public indecency.