Metro Digest

Boy shot in face

YOUNGSTOWN

Police are trying to determine how an 11-year-old boy ended up with a bullet hole in his face over the weekend.

Police were called to Boston Avenue, between Cottage Grove and Southern Boulevard, just after midnight Sunday to investigate shots fired when officers made contact with the 11-year-old Ellenwood Avenue boy. The boy said he was leaving a party on Boston Avenue when he heard gunfire then felt a sharp pain in his jaw area. Officers observed the boy’s mouth to be bleeding and a small hole in his jaw and inside left cheek.

The boy was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment.

Credit-card misuse

WARREN

A Trumbull County grand jury has remanded misdemeanor charges back to Newton Falls Municipal Court for two Queens, N.Y., men accused of participating in a high-tech theft ring involving prepaid credit cards.

The grand jury indicted Mamadu A. Balde, 37, on a charge of misuse of credit cards and Manadou A. Diallo, 24, on attempted misuse of credit cards, both misdemeanors.

Newton Falls police arrested both men Jan. 9 after a clerk at the Circle K on East Broad Street reported that they used prepaid credit cards to purchase items in the store. The clerk became suspicious when Balde used several cards.

Police said the men were loading the cards with information from someone else’s credit card that would enable them to pay for items with someone else’s money.

Felonious assault

Austintown

A Youngstown man was charged with felonious assault, accused of striking another man in the face with a beer bottle. Francis J. Giordano Jr., 29, of Monaca Avenue, is to appear April 12 for a pretrial hearing in Mahoning County Area Court.

Police were called about 12:15 a.m. Saturday to Barry Dyngle’s, South Raccoon Road. The club’s bouncer said a man was harassing customers and was asked to leave. When the bouncer escorted him from the bar, a group of the man’s friends followed.

One of the disruptive man’s friends, Giordano, then started fighting with a man who had followed to assist the bouncer. Giordano then struck the man in the face with a beer bottle, the bouncer told police.

Wick area to open

YOUNGSTOWN

The James L. Wick Recreation Area in Mill Creek MetroParks will open for the season at noon Wednesday. Batting cages will not open until April.