Metro digest

Child-sex arraignment

WARREN — A 74-year-old Hubbard man pleaded innocent Monday to six counts of gross sexual imposition after being accused of having sexual contact with two children ages 8 and 10 between 2006 and 2008. Harold Deraud of Elizabeth Street was arraigned on the charges before Judge Peter Kontos in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court and was released after posting $10,000 bond. His indictment alleges that he had contact with a boy around age 8 in fall 2007 and with a girl about 10 for about a year, starting in late 2006. A conviction could mean up to 30 years in prison.

Rite Aid robbed

WARREN — A robber wielding a small bat robbed Rite Aid, 1560 Parkman Road N.W., at 9:45 p.m. Saturday and fought with the loss-prevention officer. No injuries were reported. The robber escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.

Released on bond

NILES — A city man was released on bond after his arrest on charges of assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Police said Mark A. Symcheck, 23, of Neil Street tried to hit an officer outside a wedding reception at McMenamy’s, 325 Youngstown-Warren Road. Symcheck pleaded innocent Monday in Niles Municipal Court to the misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. No plea was offered on the assault charge, which is a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison upon conviction.

The officer reported that he injured his right elbow during the scuffle, though he had not sought medical help for it as of Saturday night. Symcheck returns to court at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 9.

Practice tests

YOUNGSTOWN— The Youth Community Computer Lab of Warriors Inc. is open from 4 to 5:15 p.m. every Tuesday. Full-length and half-length practice tests for the Ohio Achievement Test (for grades three-eight), the Ohio Graduation Test (for nine-12), and Compass Act Test are available. The lab is located in the Hope Building at 2733 Market St. To participate, contact Wendy Robinson or Sparkil Alli at (330) 783-5440.

Guilty plea

LISBON — The second of two men who took the sculpture named “The Readers” at the Columbiana Library has pleaded guilty to a charge of receiving stolen property.

Matthew Stouffer, 23, of Columbiana, faced one count of receiving stolen property that can bring a penalty of up to 18 months in prison. He entered the plea Monday. He was scheduled to go on trial today. A co-defendant, Michael Nagle Jr., 24, of Columbiana, pleaded to the same charge last September and has completed his 10-month prison sentence. The two men were indicted in the removal of the popular outdoor sculpture of two children reading on a bench in January 2008 and selling it at a Youngstown scrapyard for $331.50. The library bought the piece for $12,500 in 2004. New security measures have been adopted for the sculpture. Stouffer will be sentenced at a later date.

Trial under way

WARREN — Opening statements will be given at 1 p.m. today in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in the trial of Eugene Cumberbatch, 27, charged in the April 13 killing of Lloyd McCoy Jr., 11, and Marvin Chaney, 26. A jury of nine men and three women was seated, and the jurors visited Wick Street Southeast, the site of the shootings, before retiring for the day Monday. Cumberbatch could be sentenced to life in prison without eligibility of parole if convicted on two counts of aggravated murder. Judge Andrew Logan is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last through the week.