Riverbend Tavern ordered closed until further notice

Thirteen undercover drug buys were made at the bar, the prosecutor says.

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — A judge and a magistrate have signed an order to keep the Riverbend Tavern, 1105 Poland Ave., closed until further notice because they deem it a public nuisance.

Judge R. Scott Krichbaum and Magistrate Timothy G. Welsh of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court signed the preliminary injunction last week. “The closure of the business in its present form is in the public’s interest,” the injunction said.

The order also was agreed upon and signed by Jay Macejko, the city prosecutor, who had obtained a Nov. 5 temporary restraining order from Judge Krichbaum to board up the bar, and by Larry Meenachan and his wife, Sherill, of Baymar Drive, owners of the building the bar occupied.

On Nov. 5, the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force raided the bar on suspicion of drug trafficking and illegal gambling. Police seized suspected illegal drugs and video gambling machines in that raid, said Lt. Robin Lees, task-force commander.

In his request for the restraining order, Macejko said an undercover informant made 13 controlled purchases of suspected crack cocaine and prescription pills at the bar over four months.

By signing the agreed-upon journal entry, the Meenachans are not admitting any wrongdoing, the order says.

Anyone trespassing at the bar or mutilating or removing the preliminary injunction posted on the building will be punished by contempt of court, the order says.