AUSTINTOWN Police arrest three teenagers in connection with auto thefts

One of the teens had been reported as a runaway.
AUSTINTOWN -- Several Youngstown teens are facing charges stemming from two unrelated car thefts in the township.
Jarrell D. Phifer-Martin, 15, of East Boston Avenue, is charged with fleeing and eluding, receiving stolen property, possession of criminal tools, theft and driving with no license. Phifer-Martin is accused by police of driving one of the stolen cars.
Police said Phifer-Martin's passenger in the stolen car was DeAndre L. Johnson, 15, of Overlook Avenue, who is charged with receiving stolen property and a curfew violation.
According to police reports, Phifer-Martin was driving a stolen 1987 Buick Century that was seen fleeing from the Speedway gas station on Kirk Road around 4:40 a.m. Saturday. The Buick was reported stolen from Youngstown.
Police chased the car to Washington Square Drive, where Phifer-Martin and two passengers got out and ran. Officers caught Phifer-Martin, a Wilson High School ninth-grader. Johnson was later picked up by deputies and turned over to police.
The second passenger was not caught, but police said they found his Converse shoes near the stolen Buick.
Police say the Buick had also been seen on Nottingham Avenue, where a man had reported someone near a neighbor's Chevy Blazer around 4:30 a.m.
Third arrest
Police also arrested a Youngstown teen accused of driving a stolen car Monday morning. Albert L. Coffer Jr., 14, of Brooklyn Avenue, is charged with receiving stolen property, possession of drug paraphernalia, and attempted auto theft. Police said they found a ceramic pipe with marijuana residue when arresting Coffer.
Reports show that a Youngstown man visiting a friend in Compass West apartments called to say his 1992 Buick Century had been stolen around 3:15 a.m. Officers chased the vehicle from Burkey Road to Meridian Road to Industrial Road, where Coffer and a passenger got out and ran from police.
Police said they caught and arrested Coffer, a Hayes Middle School eighth-grader. Police are looking for the passenger of the car, which had a smashed rear windshield and damage to the steering column and ignition.
Coffer also had been reported as a runaway in Youngstown, and he was later identified as one of two people a Pembrook apartments man had spotted near his car around 2 a.m. The man chased the two away.
Police took Coffer to the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center.
Police found a 1994 Pontiac Transport van and a 1987 Cutlass Ciera with steering column damage in the Pembrook apartments complex. The Pontiac had been stolen from a woman in Youngstown. The Ciera was registered to a Boardman man.