Fraud case indictment

Fraud case indictment
YOUNGSTOWN -- A former employee of Waste Management was arraigned Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on charges that she defrauded the company out of more than $12,000.
Janice R. Stenson, 38, of Southern Boulevard, Warren, was secretly indicted last week by a county grand jury on a charge of theft. She pleaded innocent at her arraignment and was released on her own recognizance to await trial.
Assistant Prosecutor Robert Andrews alleged Stenson, a former payroll clerk for the company, caused fraudulent paychecks to be issued in the names of three former temporary employees. Stenson then cashed the checks and pocketed the money, Andrews alleged. The thefts happened between March 1 and Aug. 20, according to the indictment.
Obscenity charges added
NILES -- A local man who is already indicted on 28 felony rape counts was back in Niles Municipal Court today on two more felony charges.
Mark A. Heilman, 40, of Dumont Drive, Mineral Ridge, faces two counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor. Heilman, formerly of West Park Avenue, Niles, was free on bond after the Trumbull County grand jury indicted him in July on 28 counts of rape and two counts of gross sexual imposition.
Police originally arrested Heilman in June after a female relative accused him of forcing sex on her for at least six years before she left the West Park Avenue address. The girl went to police because she was concerned about another female relative still in the home.
At the time of his original arrest, police seized computers and computer files belonging to Heilman. Court records do not indicate what prompted the new charges.
Hubbard man shot
WARREN -- A 35-year-old Hubbard man was taken to Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital after being shot. Police said Brian J. Schuster of Stoneybrook Drive, Hubbard, was found in the back of a home at 638 Porter Street N.E. around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday. He was shot in the right arm, back and right chest. Hospital officials could not be reached this morning.
School contract impasse
NILES -- The Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 365 announced contract negotiations with Niles City Schools are at an impasse.
Some 120 union members represented by OAPSE have been working without a contract since this summer.
A statement from OAPSE said major sticking points are staffing levels, health insurance, length of a new contract and disputed payroll discrepancies.
The union represents classified staff from the district, including bus drivers, custodians, secretaries, cafeteria workers and more.
Sewer rate proposal
NILES -- City council gave a second reading Wednesday to legislation increasing sewer rates to pay for infrastructure repairs.
The bill would raise rates for residents by $2 monthly, for commercial businesses by $6 and industrial businesses by $20. The money would help pay for 25 sewer and culvert projects, and more.
Transfer of wetlands
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners have approved transferring 135 acres of wetland between Elm Road and Mosquito Creek in Bazetta Township to Trumbull County MetroParks.
The county acquired the land earlier this year with a state grant and a donation from the previous owner, American National Bank.
Adjoining wetlands are owned by Howland Township and the Mahoning River Consortium.
New Trumbull warden
COLUMBUS -- Dave Bobby, warden at the minimum-security Belmont Correctional Institution in St. Clairsville, has been named warden at the Trumbull Correctional Institution, effective at the end of the month.
Bobby, 36, replaces Julius Wilson, who becomes warden at the Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield, the department of rehabilitation and correction said.
The changes are part of other widespread personnel changes caused by vacancies in the warden ranks, said JoEllen Culp, a DRC spokeswoman.