Embezzlement charge

Embezzlement charge
AUSTINTOWN -- Police are looking for a Woodhurst Drive man accused of embezzling $38,000 from an auto-repair business he worked for at the corner of New and South Raccoon Roads.
Warrants were issued Friday for Edward Pietruszka Jr., 50, who is charged with felony grand theft and felony forgery.
The owner of Auto Service Express told police he noticed some financial irregularities earlier this year and confronted Pietruszka, who admitted the embezzlement. Pietruszka was then fired.
Police said Pietruszka had been accepting cash as payment for work, then stealing the cash and eliminating computer records of the work. Pietruszka also forged the owner's name on checks and forged information about customer credit cards, police said.
Boy reports shooting
AUSTINTOWN -- A Rhode Island Drive boy told police someone shot at him Sunday in the woods near Idaho Road. The boy, 16, said he was chasing two other teens who had played a prank on his family through the woods about 10 p.m. when the teens shot at him. The boy said he recognized the teens, one who is 18 and of South Yorkshire Boulevard, the other who is 16 and of Kerrybrook Drive. Police later spoke to the teens, who admitted pulling the prank but said they did not shoot at the boy.
Drug, weapon charges
YOUNGSTOWN -- Suspected Ecstasy pills, $1,410 in cash and a gun were taken as evidence after police arrested Anthony Mitchell about 2 a.m. Sunday on the East Side. Mitchell, 20, of Lansdowne Boulevard, was arrested on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and aggravated trafficking in Ecstasy, reports show. Mitchell, first spotted in the parking lot of a convenience store on Oak Street, ran from police and was found hiding nearby in a wooded area. Police said he tossed the gun and pills as he ran.
Governing board to meet
BOARDMAN -- The governing board of the Mahoning County Educational Service Center will have a special meeting at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday in the service center board room, 100 DeBartolo Place, Suite 105.
Women injured in crash
GREENFORD -- A head-on crash Sunday afternoon sent three women to St. Elizabeth Health Center. A vehicle driven by Stephanie Gallegos-Riehl, 19, of New Buffalo Road went left of center on a curve on state Route 14 east of Beaver Creek Road and struck a car driven by Vickie Neppl, 51, of West Wilson Street, Salem, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol Canfield post. Gallegos-Riehl's passenger, ArinHaus, 20, of Calla Road, Canfield was ejected when the car overturned, the patrol said. The impact forced Neppl's car off the road. The accident, which happened about 3:30 p.m., remains under investigation. Haus was in serious condition today; Gallegos-Riehl and Neppl were both in stable condition.
English festival grantYOUNGSTOWN -- The Raymond John Wean Foundation has awarded a grant of nearly $8,000 to the Youngstown State University English Festival to help boost participation by urban pupils.
The English Festival Urban Initiative will provide registration fees for up to 505 pupils in the Youngstown and Warren city school systems and five sets of English Festival books to each middle, junior high and high school in Youngstown and Warren.
Festival participants read a series of books throughout the school year, leading up to the spring event at YSU, where they participate in writing workshops and contests and attend lectures by authors. The festival attracts nearly 3,000 pupils from throughout the region.
For more information, call (330) 941-3414.
Two men hospitalizedLORDSTOWN -- Police are investigating a stabbing Sunday evening that left two men hospitalized.
Allan Dluhos, 23, of 1330 Salt Springs Road, Lordstown, was being treated this morning in St. Elizabeth Hospital Medical Center in Youngstown. It is the same hospital where John Biviano, 38, who gave a Waseka Lane, Boardman, address, was being treated after he was beaten up, police said.
Lordstown Police Chief Brent Milhoan said Biviano went to Dluhos' home shortly after 6:30 p.m. Sunday, where Biviano's estranged wife was staying.
Police allege that Biviano cut Dluhos on the face and stabbed him in the back during a confrontation and then Dluhos beat up Biviano. Milhoan said Biviano will be charged with aggravated assault.