Man pleads guilty to reduced charge

staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — Joseph Melfi of Girard, has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in an altercation with police that began outside the Covelli Centre on Feb. 21, the night of the Kelly Pavlik fight.

Melfi, 36, of Morris Avenue, who was indicted last month on a fifth degree felony charge of harassment with bodily substance, pleaded guilty Tuesday to the first degree misdemeanor charge of attempted harassment with a bodily substance.

Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court gave Melfi a six-month suspended jail sentence; fined him $1,000, suspending all but $50 of the fine; and placed him on two years’ nonreporting probation.

Melfi, who said he had a $250 ticket for the fight, became agitated after he was barred from entering the arena because he was believed to be intoxicated.

Melfi defied a police request that he leave the premises, screamed expletives at police and threw personal papers, a cell phone and money to the pavement, falling to the pavement and injuring his face as he tried to retrieve those items, police said.

As police took Melfi to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment, he spat blood-filled saliva at a Youngstown policeman, police said.

Police transported Melfi to the hospital because no ambulance was immediately available.