YOUNGSTOWN Mother is wanted on a warrant after leaving drug treatment

Darlene Shina's estranged husband says she is a drug addict and needs help.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Darlene Shina, the 24-year-old mother who had two child endangering charges against her dropped in a plea agreement in mid-May, is wanted on a warrant after failing to comply with the court on an animal cruelty charge.
Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr. of Youngstown Municipal Court has issued a bench warrant for Shina's arrest. She walked away from a court-ordered residential drug treatment program the weekend of May 24. She had been sentenced to serve 90 days in jail with credit for seven days served, 18 months' probation and a $100 fine. The balance of her jail time was to be decided after she completed the drug treatment program.
Her estranged husband, Brian Shina of Austintown, said he has heard through mutual acquaintances that his wife fled to Las Vegas and has no plans to return to Youngstown if she has to serve jail time.
Mrs. Shina was arrested last June after the Howard Street house where she lived with her two children was declared by authorities to be uninhabitable. The children are 3 and 5 years old.
Shina said he is furious that his wife was able to "just crawl through a window and walk away."
"They could have put her somewhere with a lock on the door. I'm not saying jail, but a drug treatment program that's secure. I blame the Youngstown prosecutor for this. The Youngstown prosecutor failed me miserably," he added.
Shina said his wife has a severe problem with drug addiction and needs help. The children are living with him.
Authorities deemed uninhabitable the South Side rental property where Mrs. Shina lived after they discovered filthy conditions, including an inoperable toilet that had overflowed and was still being used, and human and animal feces smeared on the living room rug, which was covered with cat litter.
kubik@vindy.com