Guilty plea to rape

Guilty plea to rape
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Youngstown man has pleaded guilty to a charge of raping a teenage boy.
Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court accepted the plea of Jerry London, 18, who is in the county jail, at a hearing Monday.
Police said London, while in the county's Juvenile Justice Center, raped his 17-year-old cell mate Feb. 26, 2004. London also was 17 at the time. Judge Sweeney delayed sentencing pending a report from the Ohio Adult Parole Authority. The penalty for rape is from three to 10 years in prison.
Marshal: Inmate hadbeen taken off watch
YOUNGSTOWN -- A federal detainee who committed suicide early Sunday at Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard Road was taken off suicide watch after being evaluated by a psychologist after a prior attempt, U.S. Marshal Peter J. Elliott said Monday, relating information he received from the warden.
Paul Rendina, 52, died after using a razor blade to slash his throat at the private prison. A doctor at St. Elizabeth Health Center told city police that Rendina was treated April 4 at the hospital for self-inflicted wounds to his arms. Roseann Rubosky, public information officer at the prison, did not respond to messages Monday. Rendina, a Willoughby Hills accountant, was scheduled to be sentenced in July on 29 counts, including mail fraud and tax evasion.
Gas station robbery
AUSTINTOWN -- Employees at McQuaid's gas statin on North Meridian Road told police that two gunmen robbed them Saturday evening.
One of them ordered the male clerk to the floor and held him there while the other ordered the female clerk to enter the store's cash drawers.
The men also removed the male clerk's wallet before fleeing the store with an undisclosed amount of money.
School bomb threat
BROOKFIELD -- A 17-year-old township boy has been arrested on a charge of delinquency by way of inducing panic. Police Chief Dan Faustino said the boy was arrested Thursday on allegations that he wrote the word bomb and a date on a table at the school. The boy was taken to the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center, Faustino said. The school was searched, but nothing was found. The boy told police he wrote the words because he was angry at the principal.
Arena contracts
YOUNGSTOWN -- The city's board of control approved three contracts worth more than $1.4 million for the downtown arena. Contracts awarded Monday were for seating, painting and casework/finished carpentry.
I-680 ramp closing
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Salt Springs Road exit ramp from Interstate 680 will be closed from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesday as part of the 711 Connector work.
The Ohio Department of Transportation says the detour will be the Belle Vista exit to Wellington and then to Salt Springs Road.
Artists' reception set
YOUNGSTOWN -- A reception to celebrate artwork by local artists is set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the SMARTS Center on Federal Plaza West.
On display will be the SMARTS penguin, "Muses of the Seasons," that was part of YSU's Penguin Parade fund-raiser, and created by Raymond Escribano. It was bought for the center by the Kennedy Family Foundation.
Painting by Escribano will be on display as well as "Mesopotamia," a 22-foot-long paper mach & eacute; sculpture on permanent display in the SMARTS Center atrium gallery.
SMARTS -- Students Motivated by the Arts -- is an arts education partnership between YSU's College of Fine and Performing arts, the Beeghly College of Education, the Youngstown city school system and other arts organizations. Its goal is to motivate students by teaching them the focus and discipline that creating arts requires.