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AUSTINTOWN -- Police charged Michael A. Faiola Jr., 19, of Lynn Avenue, Youngstown, with theft after he took $325 from two Boardman High School students who told police they were trying to buy drugs.
According to police reports, two 16-year-old boys, both in the 11th grade at Boardman High School, met Faiola in a Mahoning Avenue parking lot around 7:20 p.m. Thursday and handed him the cash.
Faiola then got back into his car and drove off, heading east on Mahoning Avenue, the report says.
A 23-year-old Youngstown man who told police he had given some of the money to the boys to buy drugs followed Faiola and called police to report his location, telling the dispatcher that Faiola had robbed them at gunpoint.
Police stopped Faiola's car on Elmwood Avenue and searched him and the vehicle for the gun but found nothing.
Faiola told police he did not rob anyone but that the boys had given him money to buy OxyContin for them. He was carrying $220.
After being told that filing a false police report was a crime, the boys admitted giving the money to Faiola for drugs.
Faiola was released on bond pending an appearance Monday in Mahoning County Court here.