Probation set for mother

YOUNGSTOWN -- An Austintown woman who left her two young children at home last year was placed on five years' probation Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Tina M. Wiczen Duval, 37, of Compass West, had pleaded guilty in February to two counts of endangering children, each a fourth-degree felony.
Assistant Prosecutor Patrick R. Pochiro said Duval left her children, ages 7 and 6, at home with a male friend in June 2003 while she went out, supposedly for a short time. When Duval did not return after several hours, the man left and the children were alone.
Defense attorney John Dixon said the children now live with their father, who said in court Thursday that he did not want Duval to go to prison.
Besides placing her on probation, Judge R. Scott Krichbaum ordered Duval to complete a residential drug-addiction program at Community Corrections Association on Market Street.