Liquor, curfew case

Liquor, curfew case

AUSTINTOWN — Police early Sunday observed youths ages 16-18 sitting around a table with beer in a house on North Navarre Avenue. An officer was writing a parking citation for a vehicle parked near the home about 3:49 a.m., when he noticed young men in the road and then running toward a house. The officer went to the back door of the home and observed young people in the house with the beer. He recorded the information on the three 18-year-olds and released them. Four 16-year-olds and six 17-year-olds were released to their parents. All were advised the department’s detective division would determine whether to file curfew charges on the juveniles and a liquor violation charge on the 17-year-old girl who lives at the Navarre Avenue home.

Police: Kidnap report false

WARREN — A woman fabricated a claim that she was abducted from the parking lot of the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library by a man who attempted to rape her, police say. Detective Mike Currington said Monday that he will confer with the city prosecutor to determine if charges will be filed against a 32-year-old McKinley Street woman for filing a false police report. The woman claimed she was abducted from the Mahoning Avenue library lot and forced to drive to Packard Park but managed to escape.

Drug hearing scheduled

WARREN — A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 3 in municipal court for a 22-year-old Youngstown man facing drug charges after a two-month investigation.

Bond was set Monday at $3,500 for Christopher Brooks, of Oak Street Extension, for charges of possession of cocaine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia. A second man taken into custody during a Friday raid on a house at 656 Delaware Ave., Bryan Sharper, 29, of Glenaven Avenue, Youngstown, was released after paying fines and costs for a prior conviction of carrying a concealed weapon. Police confiscated marijuana, crack cocaine, Ecstasy, two digital scales, $1,400 cash and several surveillance cameras and a monitor, according to Detective Melanie Gambill of the city’s narcotics unit. A loaded 9-mm pistol was found under a couch cushion on which Sharper was sleeping, Gambill said.

Weather-spotter training

Mahoning County Skywarn, a volunteer organization of weather spotters, will conduct training on how to recognize approaching storms and tornadoes at 6 p.m. March 26 at Austintown High School, Falcon Drive. Training is free and open to the public. Gary Garnet, warning coordinator meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Cleveland, will conduct the training.

Death investigation

YOUNGSTOWN — Police are seeking a man for questioning in the death of a 48-year-old Bellfield Avenue woman. Lois Koeppen was found dead in her bed at 4:36 p.m. Friday. Police reports noted that her arms and legs were covered with bruises and she had a cut on her head. Police are awaiting the results of an autopsy.

Guilty plea in robbery

LISBON — A Columbiana man pleaded guilty Monday in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court to robbing a Circle K convenience store in 2006.

Nicholas Grossi, 25, of North Main Street, entered the store about 4 a.m. Aug. 18 and threatened to shoot the clerk, who refused to turn over any money, according to John Gamble, an assistant Columbiana County prosecutor. Grossi eventually took the cash drawer from the register, which contained $67.

Grossi is serving a three-year sentence for two similar crimes committed in Mahoning County, Gamble said. He faces from two to eight years in prison.