Man sentenced for injecting heroin

YOUNGSTOWN -- John M. Poprosky will serve a one-year prison term for injecting heroin in his arm in the presence of a child.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Poprosky, 51, of Westchester Drive, Austintown, at a hearing Thursday. He pleaded guilty Nov. 9 to one count of possession of heroin.
Judge Krichbaum also suspended Poprosky's driver's license for one year and ordered him to pay the costs of his prosecution.
Police officers saw Poprosky use a syringe to shoot heroin while he was in a car with a female passenger next to him and a small child in the rear seat, Judge Krichbaum said.
The female passenger, Tiffany Bungard, 34, also of Westchester Drive, is a co-defendant in the case. Bungard pleaded no contest Nov. 9 to one count of endangering children and was found guilty. Her sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 12.
Defense lawyer Mark Cervello said Poprosky never had a criminal conviction until the mid-1990s, when his 22-year marriage ended in divorce. Poprosky told the judge that he also experienced a nervous breakdown.
Poprosky has been convicted six times since 1995, four times for drug offenses, and he failed the county's drug court program in 1999, Judge Krichbaum added.