TRUMBULL COUNTY Videotape subject faces drug charges

The defendant is free on a $25,000 bond.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A man whose videotaped arrest made national news last June was secretly indicted on 11 drug charges.
A Trumbull County grand jury indicted Lyndal Kimble of Kenilworth Avenue last week. He pleaded innocent to the charges during his arraignment Tuesday.
Kimble, who is free on a $25,000 bond, has been indicted on eight counts of trafficking in cocaine and three charges of possession of drugs.
He is scheduled to return to court later this month.
Neither Kimble nor his attorney, Richard Olivito, could be reached to comment.
Possible sentence
Chuck Morrow, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, said that if Kimble is convicted of all the charges, he could face up to 14 years in prison.
Police searched Kimble's Kenilworth Avenue home in March. Police said they found suspected crack cocaine, a small amount of marijuana, paraphernalia, assorted pills and about $2,000 in cash.
Kimble was handcuffed, taken to the police station and then released pending test results of the substances.
He had previously been charged with felonious assault, resisting arrest, tampering with evidence and felonious possession of drugs. His case on those charges, stemming from his arrest in June 2003, is pending in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Kimble, 29, has said police beat him during that June 2003 arrest. A videotape of the arrest taken by Lionel Hughley, one of Kimble's neighbors, shows officers Greg Hoso, Michael Stabile and Frank Tempesta struggling with Kimble at length.
The tape shows one of the officers throwing him onto a cruiser and then to the ground. Kimble also was sprayed with a chemical repellent. Police Chief John Mandopoulos has said a preliminary review of the arrest does not show excessive force was used.
Lt. Thomas Skoczylas, commander of the city narcotics division, said in March that the search of Kimble's home is part of a 10-month investigation "involving a group of individuals conspiring to distribute crack cocaine."
sinkovich@vindy.com