Survivor of March 10 crash drownings indicted twice in 2 days

Staff report

WARREN

Brian K. Henry II, one of two teens who survived the March 10 crash on Niles Warren River Road that killed six other teens, was indicted twice this week.

Henry, 19, of Milton Street Southeast, was indicted Thursday by a Trumbull County grand jury on a cocaine-possession charge relating to his arrest last September in the Trumbull Homes apartments.

Warren police said they observed Henry, whom they knew, and his younger brother walking through the apartment complex.

They tried to arrest Henry for being in the complex despite having been banned for earlier misconduct, but Henry ran from them and threw a bag on the ground containing crack cocaine, police said.

If convicted on the charge, Henry could get up to a year in prison.

Henry also was on the list of indictments unsealed Wednesday by U.S. District Court in connection with a yearlong investigation of drug-dealing and firearms violations in Warren.

His federal indictment accuses him of possessing a .25-caliber handgun May 31, 2012, that had been shipped and transported on interstate or foreign commerce.

The firearm’s serial number had been removed, altered or obliterated, which is a violation of federal law, according to the indictment.

Henry was arraigned Wednesday and held in federal custody until Friday, when Magistrate Judge Nancy A. Vecchiarelli set bond of $20,000. It is not known whether he was able to post bond.

If convicted on the charge, Henry could face up to 10 years in prison.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says 47 of the 55 people indicted in federal court in the 10-month investigation have been taken into custody, as well as 32 of the 42 people indicted in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

The 18 not in custody yet from the federal and state indictments are David Baldwin, Vincent Croff, Dewayne Foston, Leon Glover, Marion Hall, Lakeia Harris, Julius Hines, Tracie Liptrot, Charles Moore II, Randall Morgan, John Slade, Caliqua Smith, Brian Swogger, Steven Thomas, Valentino Thomas Sr., Bryant Thompson, Antonio Tucker and Mattew Young.

Two of the people indicted on drug and weapons charges out of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court were arraigned Friday. They are Steve Thomas Sr., 23, of Warren: cocaine trafficking (x2) and marijuana trafficking; and La’Fray Bell, 24, of Youngstown, marijuana trafficking (x3).