Woman arrested on warrant for failure to appear

AUSTINTOWN -- A woman who is charged with falsely accusing a township police officer of rape has been arrested on a warrant for failing to appear in Mahoning County Court for a pretrial.
Charmin Merchant had reported to police Feb. 15 that the officer, with whom she'd had a romantic relationship, raped her and hit her while they were in her room Feb. 14 at the Fairfield Inn on Niles-Canfield Road.
Township police and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation cleared the officer of wrongdoing.
Merchant, 34, of Amanda, Ohio, was then charged with two counts of falsification, both misdemeanors.
She was supposed to appear for a pretrial in county court June 5, and when she did not, the court issued a bench warrant for her arrest.
She was then supposed to appear Monday. She did not, and her $2,000 bond was forfeited.
Austintown Detective Dan Kosco was contacted Monday by Merchant's ex-fianc & eacute;, who said she was in a hospital in Fairfield County and had been there since Friday.
Merchant was released from the hospital Wednesday and arrested by the hospital's police, Kosco said. She had an extradition hearing, and Austintown police were planning to go to the Fairfield County jail to get her today, he said.
He said it's likely she will appear in the county court here at 1 p.m. Monday. Her bond is now $20,000, and Kosco said she remains in the county jail.