METRO DIGEST || Town-hall meeting to focus on bullying

Town-hall meeting to focus on bullying

YOUNGSTOWN

A town-hall meeting to address bullying, bigotry and other matters will be at 5 p.m. Sunday at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Youngstown, 1105 Elm St.

Speakers include Jennifer Gray from the Ohio attorney general’s office, state representatives, student victims and adults who suffered bullying. A reception with food follows the meeting. Tables also will be set up with information on how to deal with bullying. Citizens United Against Bigotry & Prejudice is sponsoring the session.

Man pleads innocent to child-sex charges

WARREN

Thomas A. Kohn, 43, of state Route 7, Kinsman, has pleaded innocent to seven counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and one count of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.

He was arraigned Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on the charges, for which he was secretly indicted by a Trumbull County grand jury.

Kohn’s indictment alleges he engaged in sexual conduct with a 13-year-old girl January through April 2011 and committed the other offense in December 2010.

Kohn, whose bond was set at $25,000, will return to court Monday morning for his first pretrial hearing. If convicted, he could get more than 30 years in prison.

Eastwood Mall theft

NILES

Warren police assisted Niles police in arresting several suspects in a Thursday afternoon theft at Sears in Eastwood Mall.

The theft was reported at 12:38 p.m. and involved suspects who had stolen a large amount of clothing before heading west out of Niles in a white Pontiac.

Warren police were alerted to watch for the vehicle and spotted it at about 12:40 p.m. on Colonial Street Southeast near the Willard K-8 School.

Four suspects were taken into custody, and police found two bags of clothing nearby.

Late Thursday afternoon, Niles police had charged two females with misdemeanor theft in the case but had no information on the two other individuals.

Warren police arrest 5 for curfew violation

WARREN

Police arrested three boys and two girls, ages 13 to 15, at 11:30 p.m. Thursday at Niblock Avenue and Clearview Street northwest for a curfew violation. One of the five, a 13-year-old girl, also was charged with criminal damaging and underage consumption after she admitted she’d been drinking.

A 36-year-old Raymond Street Northwest man reported that the girl kicked the driver’s side door of his pickup truck on Drexel Avenue, causing scratches. The kicking occurred just after the juveniles refused to get out of the roadway as the driver was coming down the road, police said.

When officers first spotted the five juveniles, the two girls were in the roadway with their shirts off, wearing only bras.

Four of the five juveniles were released to parents, but one of the boys was taken to the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center because of a juvenile arrest warrant.

Attempted abduction

NEWTON FALLS

An Ophelia Street woman reported that three white men attempted to pull her into their car at 9:30 p.m. Monday. The woman said she fought them off and ran home.

The men were in an older, white four-door car, possibly a Chevrolet Cavalier with no hub caps and rust on the side.

She said the driver was large with brown hair and a beard. The front passenger was thinner with glasses and short, dark hair. The rear passenger was about 200 pounds with short, blond hair, she reported.

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