Rape, assault charges

Rape, assault charges
MERCER, Pa. -- State police arrested a Coolspring Township man on charges of rape, statutory sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault. Kenneth L. Shollenberger, 33, is accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl at his home over the weekend. He was arrested Wednesday and arraigned before District Justice Ruth French, who ordered him to be held in Mercer County Jail on $10,000 bond.
Man in critical condition
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A Euclid Avenue man was in critical condition this morning in St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown, after a motorcycle crash on Wilmington Road. Police said Samuel Moore Jr., 27, was traveling north at 1:36 a.m. today when he lost control of his Harley-Davidson motorcycle on a curve near Family Video. Moore was thrown from the motorcycle and appeared to have head, arm and leg injuries, police said.
Salem street closing
SALEM -- East Pershing Street will be closed between Southeast Boulevard and Madison Avenue early next week. Joseph Julian, Salem's director of public safety, said the street will be closed from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day because of construction at Salem Community Hospital.
Marijuana farm sentencing
YOUNGSTOWN -- Pamela Woodward, 47, of Granada Avenue was sentenced Wednesday afternoon in Cleveland federal court to two years in prison for her part in a marijuana farm that once filled a downtown warehouse. U.S. District Judge James S. Gwin also ordered that Woodward, originally from England, be deported once out of prison. All six defendants indicted in March were charged with conspiracy to cultivate with intent to distribute marijuana and cultivating marijuana (in excess of 1,000 plants). Three remain to be sentenced. Woodward's black vehicle was seen by Drug Enforcement Administration agents, almost on a daily basis during surveillance over three months, entering the warehouse at 814 Marshall St. using a remote garage door opener.
Purse theft charge
YOUNGSTOWN -- A woman who left her pink purse on top of a gas pump quickly returned to the station on Market Street Wednesday afternoon and saw the purse inside a car, then questioned its three occupants. The woman followed the car and notified police, who stopped it on East Florida Avenue. The driver, Erika M. Carrillo, 19, of East Lucius Avenue, was arrested on a theft charge. Her passengers, a 16-year-old East Lucius Avenue boy and 15-year-old Hudson Avenue boy, were each issued a summons charging them with theft and released. Police found the purse under the front passenger seat, $10 in the console, $10 in Carrillo's bra, $20 in the 16-year-old boy's right shoe and $43 under the 15-year-old boy's seat.
Firefighters sent to jail
BROOKVILLE, Pa. (AP) -- Two firefighters accused in a string of arsons have been sentenced to jail terms. Jeffrey S. Corbin, 38, of Brookville, the former chief of the Brookville Volunteer Fire Department, and firefighter Chad E. Long, 21, Brookville, were each sentenced Wednesday to just under one to two years in the Jefferson County jail, after which each will spend eight years on probation. Long must pay about $150,000 restitution as well as prosecution costs and $1,000 in fines, and he must also perform 1,000 hours of community service. Corbin must pay about $3,300 restitution, prosecution costs and $500 in fines and perform 1,200 hours of community service. The fires were set at abandoned or vacant buildings in 2002 and 2003 near Brookville, about 70 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Man withdraws guilty plea
YOUNGSTOWN -- A judge has allowed Raymond Crites to withdraw his plea of guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter. Crites, 30, of Austintown, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court after he pleaded guilty two weeks ago to killing 33-year-old John Deiley. Crites said in subsequent court documents that he was coerced into the plea by his former defense attorney, Anthony P. Meranto, who has denied it. Crites also wanted to back out of the plea because the judge sentenced him to 10 years when the prosecutor recommended only nine. Judge Krichbaum approved Crites' request Wednesday and appointed Atty. Mark Lavelle to represent him.
He also ordered the Youngstown Police Department to return $720 it seized from Crites when he was arrested.