Credit-card-theft charges

Credit-card-theft charges
HUBBARD -- A couple is charged with theft after stealing a credit card and going on a shopping spree, police said.
Mark Mikolaj, 41, of Forsythe Avenue, Girard, is in the Trumbull County Jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond set Monday in Girard Municipal Court. Elizabeth D'Amico, 39, of Euclid Boulevard, Youngstown, is free on a $12,500 bond.
Hubbard Township Detective Mike Begeot said D'Amico asked to use a Virginia trucker's CB radio at Truck World on June 25. Instead, the credit card was taken, and she and Mikolaj ran up between $1,300 and $1,500 in charges. The detective said charges may be filed in other jurisdictions, because the card was used in Hubbard, Boardman, Niles and Austintown.
Preliminary hearing set
HUBBARD -- A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday in Girard Municipal Court for a Youngstown man who kept stolen goods on him.
Gerald J. Paige, 26, of Southern Boulevard, Youngstown, is being held in Trumbull County Jail in lieu of a $25,000 bond.
Detective Mike Begeot of Hubbard Township police said Paige and another man tried to burglarize a Chestnut-Ridge Road home June 23. The homeowner's grandson got the license number of the car Paige and the accomplice were in.
Begeot said Paige faces two counts of receiving stolen property.
When arrested, he had an American Association of Retired Persons credit card that was stolen June 10 in a Pulaski, Pa., burglary, and he was wearing a watch engraved with the owner's name that was stolen May 22 during a Hubbard Township burglary, the detective said.
Mosquito spraying
HOWLAND -- Alexander Pest Control will spray the township for mosquitos on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Spraying will be postponed a day in the case of rain. Residents are encouraged to close windows and bring food and pets indoors while spraying takes place.
Cortland OKs raises
CORTLAND -- Despite the mayor and the police chief's earlier concerns that raises given to nonunion city employees are not adequate, city council approved the raises Monday.
The one-year contracts call for 2.4 percent pay increases, which council members said is consistent with cost-of-living inflation.
The mayor and police chief had said the increase was not consistent with three-year union contracts, which provide average increases of 5 percent.
Contracts were approved for the fire chief, police chief and finance director. An ordinance calling for a new contract for the police captain was tabled until the next meeting.
Council also discussed bids for the Fowler Street construction project, which came in higher than the $200,000 estimate.
The project may be delayed until spring.
Man pleads guilty to rape
WARREN -- A 43-year-old Cortland man has pleaded guilty to charges of rape, sexual battery and gross sexual imposition.
Timothy Goss entered the pleas Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. Judge W. Wyatt McKay said Goss will be sentenced after a background check is completed by the county adult probation department.
Thomas Wrenn, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, said Goss had sexual contact with two minor females that he knew.
Brookfield pays bills
BROOKFIELD -- On Monday, township trustees paid bills totaling $145,942 for June.
Trustees learned the township has qualified for a $300,000 grant for a sewer project.
It was announced the fire department has sold an older rescue truck for $30,000 to Shenango Fire Department.
Child drowns in pool
SHARPSVILLE, Pa. -- A 3-year-old Jamestown boy drowned Sunday in an above-ground swimming pool in the back yard of his grandfather's home on Arlington Drive, Pymatuning Township.
Police were called to the home of Mike McKinney around 9 p.m. after the child, Sean M. Randall of Chestnut Street, Jamestown, was found floating in the pool. McKinney was performing CPR on the child when police arrived, but the boy couldn't be revived, authorities said.