Judicial-release hearing set for ex-bar owner

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A former bar owner, who was sentenced in May 2010 to 41/2 years in prison on 17 counts of drug trafficking at his bar, may be home for Christmas this year.

Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, has scheduled an 11:30 a.m. Monday judicial- release hearing for John Messer, 60, of Raccoon Road, Austintown, owner of the former Riverbend Tavern on Poland Avenue, and now an inmate at the Marion Correctional Institution.

The drug-trafficking counts pertained to sales of cocaine and prescription pills (Vicodin and OxyContin). Police said they seized illegal drugs and video gambling machines in a Nov. 5, 2009, raid at the bar.

An undercover informant made 13 controlled purchases of crack cocaine and prescription pills over four months at the bar, according to city Prosecutor Jay Macejko, who got Judge Krichbaum to close the bar as a public nuisance.

At the time of sentencing, the prosecution agreed not to oppose judicial release after Messer served 18 months of his prison term.

Recently, Martin P. Desmond, an assistant county prosecutor, said he intends to stand silent on Messer’s motion for judicial release, if Messer has behaved appropriately in prison.

The motion for judicial release said Messer is legally eligible for such release, but it was silent concerning Messer’s behavior in prison.