Guilty verdict

Guilty verdict
YOUNGSTOWN -- Christopher Anderson was found guilty of murder this morning in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Anderson, 36, of Austintown, had been on trial for the killing of 22-year-old Amber Zurcher, who was found strangled in her Compass West apartment in June of 2002.
The five-man, seven-woman jury deliberated about five hours Tuesday and less than one hour today before returning the verdict.
Judge James C. Evans will sentence Anderson at 11 a.m. Monday. The penalty for murder is 15 years to life in prison.
Indictment returned
YOUNGSTOWN -- A federal grand jury in Cleveland returned a four-count indictment Tuesday against Adrian Johnson, 30, of West Philadelphia Avenue, charging him with illegal possession of firearms after having been convicted of receiving stolen property in Georgia in 1998.
The grand jury also returned a three-count indictment against Kenneth Stoffer, 19, of Lauderdale Avenue. He is charged with possessing a sawed-off shotgun, possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense.
Counterfeit bills case
YOUNGSTOWN -- A federal grand jury in Cleveland returned a two-count indictment Tuesday against Rashan S. Seifullah of Selma Avenue charging him with making and passing nine counterfeit $100 bills, and making and attempting to pass about $4,000 in $50 bills. The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and Niles Police Department.
'Obvious phony' $100 bill
YOUNGSTOWN -- A man who handed over a counterfeit $100 bill at the Kentucky Fried Chicken drive-through on South Avenue about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to pay for two kids' meals left when questioned by the clerk, reports show. A patrolman confiscated the bill, which he described as an obvious phony. The clerk did not get a good look at the man or his vehicle.
Violence, assault charges
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police charged a 23-year-old West Evergreen man with domestic violence and assault after they say he cut his pregnant girlfriend and her brother with a kitchen knife early Tuesday.
Police reports say Demetrius Harris came home and began to argue with his girlfriend after she told him not to return to the house. He cut her on the arm and her brother on the hand, reports say. The brother was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment. Harris was taken out of a car police spotted pulling away from the house as officers arrived, reports say.
Man arrested
AUSTINTOWN -- A Youngstown man was arrested by township police recently after they discovered he was wanted for failing to pay more than $45,000 in child support. Timothy L. Overton, 41, of Charlotte Street, is wanted in Lexington, Ky., for failing to make $70-per-week payments totaling $46,200.
Police had pulled over the 1990 Chevrolet Blazer he drove around 3:45 a.m. Friday, after discovering that the state had ordered confiscation of the license plates. When they reviewed Overton's background they found the Kentucky warrant.
Charged with menacing
AUSTINTOWN -- Police charged Joseph Vogt, 19, of Birch Trace Drive with aggravated menacing Tuesday, saying he pointed a BB pistol at another car while he was driving on South Meridian Road about 9 p.m. They charged the passenger in Vogt's car, Frank Sackela, 19, of South Saratoga Avenue, with obstructing official business. Police received a call from two teens who said a man in a black Chevrolet Cavalier was pointing a handgun at them from his car. Police later pulled over and searched Vogt's car, which matched the description given by the teens, on Burkey Road. Police said Vogt told them he'd thrown the gun out of the car. Police found the BB gun. Sackela denied there was a gun until it was found by police.
Taken to hospital
POLAND -- A 16-year-old Poland Seminary High School sophomore was taken from the school to the St. Elizabeth emergency center in Boardman about 8 a.m. Tuesday after school officials said she was vomiting uncontrollably. She was released to her parents.
Several students told township police some girls had been drinking alcohol at the school before 8 a.m. Three other girls admitted to police that they had consumed alcohol in a school bathroom, police said. Police found a bottle containing a sports drink mixed with suspected alcohol in a trash can. All four girls face a misdemeanor charge of being a minor intoxicated in a public place. The other three girls include two 14-year-old ninth-graders and a 16-year-old 10th-grader.