METRO DIGEST || Fireworks damage Youngstown home

Fireworks damage

Youngstown

A Connecticut Avenue man told police that a group of juveniles damaged his house by setting off fireworks.

The man told police that he was inside his West Side home about 3 p.m. Tuesday when he heard a loud explosion and saw a lot of smoke at his back window.

He found several holes in the siding of his house as well as powder burns on the siding and on his car, which was parked in the driveway.

A neighbor followed the boys to a home on Manhattan Avenue, but a juvenile there didn’t match the description of any of the teens involved and denied having anything to do with the incident, police said.

Drug charges

BOARDMAN

A 22-year-old Youngstown man has been charged with trafficking in cocaine in the vicinity of a juvenile, child endangering and five counts of trafficking in cocaine.

Lamar Marquise McQueen was arrested at 2581/2 Shields Road in Boardman around 5 p.m. Tuesday after an investigation by Boardman police with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration, reports state. A warrant had been issued for McQueen on the drug-trafficking counts before his arrest. McQueen gave officers a home address on Weston Avenue in Youngstown, police said.

When he was arrested, McQueen was driving a car that had two juvenile passengers in it which led to the trafficking in the vicinity of a juvenile and child-endangering charges, police said. Officers seized more than $5,500 and a car during the investigation, according to reports.

Robbery probed

BOARDMAN

Police are looking for a woman who reportedly stole about $50 of merchandise from the Dollar General store on South Avenue and shoved an employee into a door frame on her way out.

A store manager told police a woman had baby items shoved in her purse and paid for a jug of milk, but not the items in her purse about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to reports. When the manager confronted the woman, the woman pushed the manager into the door frame and went into the parking lot, fleeing northbound on South Avenue in a red Dodge Neon with a male passenger, police said.

In police reports the woman is described as a black, about 250-300 pounds in her late 40s to early 50s. She was about 5-foot-3-inches tall and was wearing a red T-shirt, red athletic shoes and carrying a red purse.

New principal

COLUMBIANA

Daniel Szolek will be the new high school principal, replacing David Cappuzzello, who is taking over the helm of Girard City Schools. Szolek was hired last week on a two-year contract for $75,000 per year, according to superintendent Don Mook. He said Szolek most recently worked as assistant principal in Slippery Rock, Pa., and also has served as athletic director and teacher at South Range Schools. The school board also has appointed Tony Roncone as a member, replacing Alex Heintzelman whose resignation was accepted in June; he had moved out of the district and could no longer serve.

Arrested

NEW CASTLE, Pa.

Authorities arrested Patrick Joseph Kofalt, of 1157 Moravia Road, Enon Valley, Pa., on Tuesday on an indictment on child-exploitation charges handed up by a federal grant jury in Pittsburgh.

Dave Hickton, the U.S. attorney for Pennsylvania’s Western District, said Kofalt is accused of receiving, possessing or distributing child pornography in December 2009. If convicted, he faces a maximum 30 years in prison and $500,000 fine.

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