Police arrest 3 in solicitation case

YOUNGSTOWN — Police who staked out some suspicious activity on Hillman Street arrested one man on a charge of promoting prostitution and a second man and a woman for loitering to engage in solicitation.

Police said they’d seen the woman, identified as Dawn M. Vidito, 42, and one of the men, Jeffrey L. Noble, 42, both of Regent Street loitering in the area between Willis and Chalmers avenues in the past and went back Thursday night to check on their activity.

Officers said they saw Vidito around 11:30 p.m. walking back and forth yelling at passing motorists, trying to get them to stop. They said they spotted Noble hiding nearby in some bushes shouting instructions to her on how to get vehicles to stop.

A short time later, a van began circling the block and finally stopped near Vidito and she got in, police said.

At that point officers pursued and stopped the van and nabbed Noble as well, charging him with promoting prostitution. Vidito and the driver of the van, Wallace J. Wiggen, 49, of Idlewood Drive, Austintown, were charged with loitering to engage in solicitation.

All three were arraigned in municipal court Friday.

Wiggen pleaded no contest and was fined $150. Vidito was released on her own recognizance pending trial July 18. Noble was lodged in Mahoning County jail on $10,000 bond, pending a preliminary hearing at 10:30 a.m. Friday.