Friday, April 25, 2008
A 43-count indictment charges a jail inmate in two gun shop break-ins.
YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County grand jury has indicted a North Side woman on a murder charge with a firearm specification in the shooting death of her husband in their residence on Monday.
Monique Williams, 39, of Norwood Avenue, faces 15 years to life in prison if she is convicted of the murder of her husband, Julius, 44, plus a mandatory consecutive three-year prison term if she is convicted of the firearm specification.
Julius Williams was shot at least twice in the back, police said, adding that they unloaded a .38-caliber revolver they found on a living room couch cushion.
Monique Williams told police she shot her husband in self-defense after he tried to choke her.
In another case, Shawn Thomas, 25, of Buckeye Circle, was indicted on two counts of rape, each carrying a potential life prison sentence, and one count of kidnapping, with the offenses allegedly having been committed last Saturday against a 7-year-old girl.
Thomas approached the girl as she walked to a friend’s house in his neighborhood, gave her $1, and undressed and raped her in nearby woods before taking her to a church parking lot, where she was found by a friend of her family, police reports said.
Several hours later, police dogs tracked Thomas to a house in the 1600 block of Medford Avenue, where he was arrested.
In a 43-count indictment, the county grand jury also charged Matthew Clingerman, 21, of Mahoning County Jail, with breaking and entering at Miller Rod and Gun, a federally-licensed firearm dealership at 5140 Youngstown-Poland Road, Boardman, in two separate 4 a.m. incidents last year, May 14 and 20.
Counts one and two are the breaking and entering charges for each incident, each a fifth-degree felony carrying a six- to 12-month prison term; and counts three through 43 are theft counts, which itemize the guns stolen from the store in the two break-ins. Each of the 41 gun theft counts is a first-degree felony carrying three to 10 years in prison upon conviction .
Last September, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for break-ins at three gun stores, including Miller, in May of that year and the theft of 70 guns.
In October, police charged a 16-year-old Youngstown boy in juvenile court with breaking and entering, theft and vandalism in the May 14 break-in at Miller.