Seeking shooting victim, police find fugitive

No heroin charges were filed in municipal court because of a bad search.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- No shooting victim was located inside 929 Shehy St. -- as reported to police -- but a fugitive and evidence of heroin trafficking were found.
An anonymous caller told police that a drug dealer had shot a man and dragged the victim into the kitchen Monday afternoon.
Patrol officers, members of the Street Crimes Unit and U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force who converged on the East Side house saw no signs of activity but did hear someone on the second floor. They forced their way in through the front door to search the place.
Detective Sgt. Kevin Mercer, head of the SCU, said he spotted a baseball cap on a bed with 53 bindles (doses) of heroin and $1,410 inside it. The evidence of drug trafficking was seized.
Police then found 19-year-old Frankie Torres of South Bruce Street hiding in the attic. A rifle that turned out to be stolen was found in the living room, as was a roll of lottery ticket paper typically used to package heroin, reports show.
A check revealed that Torres was wanted on two warrants -- one issued in March for a probation violation in a hit-skip case in Boardman and one issued in April for a probation violation from a heroin case in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Torres was arrested on new charges related to the stolen rifle and heroin found in the ball cap but those charges were not filed Tuesday in municipal court.
Bad search
City Prosecutor Jay Macejko said he determined a legal problem existed with the search that resulted in discovery of the heroin and rifle. He said the heroin will be destroyed.
Torres remains in the Mahoning County jail pending court appearances this week related to his probation violations.
In common pleas court, Torres was convicted of heroin and cocaine possession and sentenced to two years' community control, commonly called probation, by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum in October 2005.
In April, the Ohio Adult Parole Authority notified the court that Torres was nowhere to be found and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
meade@vindy.com