Man held in Warren rape case

WARREN – A 36-year-old Warren man was charged Monday in connection with the weekend rape of a woman.

James W. Johnson, of Brier Street, is being held in the Trumbull County Jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond set by municipal Judge Thomas Gysegem. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 19.

The 36-year-old woman told police at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital that she was picked up by a man in a vehicle early Sunday at Woodland and Logan avenues. She was driven to Railroad Avenue and sexually assaulted. Police reported seeing large shoe prints in the snow on the driver’s side of where a vehicle had been, and small shoe prints in the snow where the passenger’s side had been.

Police spotted a vehicle Sunday morning at the Travel Lodge on U.S. Route 422 that matched the description given by the victim. Johnson’s shoes matched the prints of those found off Railroad Avenue. His goatee and hoop earring also matched the description the victim had given them. He was arrested then.