Guilty plea in Dragon Palace altercation

YOUNGSTOWN

A city woman has pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary with a firearm specification in a Jan. 1 altercation at the Dragon Palace, a South Avenue bar and restaurant.

Amber Grimm, 27, of Madison Avenue, entered her plea Tuesday before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who revoked her bond and kept her jailed pending her 11 a.m. May 4 sentencing.

In the plea agreement, Robert J. Andrews, an assistant county prosecutor, reduced the firearm specification from three years to one year and recommended Grimm serve a four-year prison term.

Grimm told police she broke a window and the front door to enter the bar at 5:10 a.m., after she was refused admission. Once inside, she said she fired several shots into the air with a handgun. Nobody was injured by the gunfire.

Grimm said several men jumped her when she left the bar and that she fired again as they disarmed her.

Grimm was treated for facial cuts she said she received when one of the men took the gun from her and pistol-whipped her. Police never recovered the gun.

The manager said he locked the establishment at closing time and let a few family members stay.

He said he heard a window break and saw Grimm fire three or four shots once she entered, while about 25 people were in the bar.

Police found a spent slug and a 9mm casing and a fresh bullet hole in the bar.