Officials to look into jail releases

A man charged with a felony shouldn't have been set free, the prosecutor said.
By SARAH WEBER
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A man who city Prosecutor Jay Macejko said should not have been released from jail Wednesday is being investigated in two Thursday night shootings.
Police arrested Frank Brown, 25, of West Ravenwood Avenue, on a weapons violation Monday and sent him to the Mahoning County Jail. He was arraigned Tuesday in municipal court, where bond was set at $10,000. On Wednesday, he was released.
Macejko said typically, only people being held on minor charges are eligible for furlough.
"I don't understand how someone with a felony was furloughed," Macejko said Friday. "With the information I have now, this guy should not have been out."
Sheriff Randall Wellington said Friday night that Brown was released to a federal program based on criteria established by Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in an effort to reduce the jail population. The program is called Step 11. Wellington said he was not prepared to go into the details of the program.
Brown was arraigned in municipal court again Friday morning before Judge Robert P. Milich on a felony drug possession charge and for twice failing to appear in municipal court. He was arrested Thursday night outside St. Elizabeth Health Center, where he had just dropped off a gunshot victim.
Caught
Police say a St. Elizabeth security guard observed the 1999 silver Chrysler 300 stop under the hospital's emergency room canopy around 9 p.m. with several fresh bullet holes in the passenger-side door.
When the guard went out to talk with Brown, who was standing outside the car, the guard noticed a bag of suspected crack cocaine on the passenger seat. Police then took Brown into custody.
Officials said it is probable the car Brown was driving is the same one indicated in a drive-by shooting on East Judson Avenue around 8:45 p.m. The victim was shot in the lower left leg. He said he didn't know who shot him.
Police reports indicate that shell casings were found in the vehicle and at the Judson shooting scene.
Officials said additional charges could be filed in the case.
Macejko said Brown's case would likely bring attention to the problem of releasing crime suspects from jail without bond, though he said again it's unusual that someone with felony charges was released.
"This is the first time I've seen where a violent felon was released," Macejko said. He said his first priority will be meeting with other officials to try to find out why Brown was released.
Arraignment
At Brown's Friday arraignment on the weapons violation case, Judge Milich revoked his bond. The judge also set the bond in the possession charge at $50,000, plus $10,000 for each of his two failures to appear. Brown will remain in jail until his bond hearing Wednesday.
During the arraignment Brown said, "You ain't got to revoke it because I'm coming to court, man."
Third shooting
In a third shooting reported Thursday night, a 55-year-old man was shot in the back around 10 p.m. at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post on Albert Street. An unidentified man stole the victim's wallet and his Buick sedan.
Police said the victim went into the VFW before collapsing to the floor.
Youngstown Fire Department reported that around 5:20 a.m. Friday, they were called to a fire on Miami Avenue, where they discovered the Buick that had been stolen at the VFW in flames.
The victim is in critical condition at St. Elizabeth. There are no suspects in the case.
CONTRIBUTOR: John Goodwin, Vindicator staff writer