YPD arrest 4 men, seize suspected drugs in raids

Police said they walked
in through an open front
door at one house.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Four men were arrested, and suspected crack cocaine and marijuana was seized in a pair of drug raids by city police.

Officers armed with a search warrant said they knocked at the open front door at 120 S. Lakeview Ave. around 6:30 p.m. Thursday and announced they had a search warrant. Police said they could hear people moving around inside, but no one came to the door, so officers just walked in.

One officer stationed outside to monitor the house saw a man later identified as Daniel J. Hover, 21, who lives at that address, throw some items from a second-floor window.

The officer retrieved the items, described as a small plastic bag of suspected marijuana and a set of scales.

Police said they also found eight small plastic bags of suspected marijuana in the dining room and two more bags in a desk in the living room. A .22-caliber rifle was found in a bedroom closet, police said.

Hover was charged with possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and tampering with evidence for throwing the items out of the window.

He was arraigned in municipal court Friday and freed on his own recognizance pending a preliminary hearing at 10:30 a.m. July 27.

The other raid

Police found no open door when they raided a house at 1318 Short St. around 7:45 p.m. Thursday.

Officers said they knocked and announced they had a search warrant, and, although they could hear people moving around inside, no one came to the door.

Police forced open the door and found George J. Warren, 58, a resident of the house, in the dining room. Officers said he dropped a tin container on the floor when he saw them. Police said it contained six small plastic bags of suspected crack cocaine. Warren was arrested on a charge of possession of cocaine.

They also arrested two others found in the house.

Eddie L. Tutwiler, 47, of Norwood Avenue, was charged with possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia after police said they found some crack in his pocket and a crack pipe near where he had been ordered to lie on the floor.

Maurice J. Dow, 50, of Emerson Place was charged with possession of cocaine. Police said there were also two outstanding warrants for his arrest on theft and possession of criminal tools charges.

All three men were arraigned Friday.

Warren was lodged in Mahoning County Jail on $10,00 bond pending a preliminary hearing at 10:15 a.m. Friday. Tutwiler was lodged in county jail on $5,000 bond pending a preliminary hearing at the same time and date. Dow was lodged in county jail on $10,000 bond on the possession charge pending a preliminary hearing also at 10:15 a.m. Friday. He was placed under house arrest on the two outstanding warrants and faces preliminary hearings on those counts at 10:15 a.m. Monday.

gwin@vindy.com