METRO DIGEST || Animal cruelty case in Boardman

Animal-cruelty case involving opossums

BOARDMAN

Township police received a call Tuesday morning about a possible animal-cruelty case after a passer-by saw two opossums that were tied together by their tails hanging from a wire on Woodrow Avenue.

Police were dispatched at 9:28 a.m. and discovered the animals were dead, according to a police call sheet. Humane officers were called and arrived at 9:40 a.m.

“There were actually two young opossums that were zip-tied together at the base of their tails. Someone had thrown them up over, and they were suspended from a wire directly in the center of the street,” officer Jack Neapolitan told 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

Prosecutor appointed

YOUNGSTOWn

A special prosecutor was appointed Tuesday by judges in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to handle the case of a former Youngstown police officer accused of improper conduct with a 14-year-old female.

Angela Canepa of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office will handle the prosecution of former Detective Sgt. Robert Lodwick, 40, whose case was bound over to a grand jury earlier this month, on charges of importuning and improper use of a minor in nudity oriented material.

Lodwick has remained in the county jail since his arrest early June 7 on the charges, which were investigated by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation after a worker at the county children services board made a complaint about Lodwick’s conduct with the girl, whose case he had once handled when he was a member of the department’s Family Services Unit. His bond is $50,000 on each charge.

Second pretrial set

CANFIELD

A second pretrial has been scheduled for Kenneth O’Rourke, the deputy sheriff arrested and charged with drunken driving, as his lawyer, John B. Juhasz, and the defense needed more time to negotiate.

Authorities arrested O’Rourke on May 12 after he crashed into two parked cars on South Raccoon Road. His blood-alcohol content was .242, more than three times the legal limit of .08, police said. O’Rourke is scheduled to appear in Mahoning County Area Court at 4 p.m. Aug. 20.

Crews fight 2 fires

YOUNGSTOWN

Firefighters battled two blazes early Tuesday. Crews were called to a 337 S. Truesdale Ave. home on the East Side at about 12:20 a.m. and found a heavy fire on the first floor, reports said. Firefighters’ access was blocked due to a lawnmower and furniture blocking a flight of steps inside. Damage is estimated at $6,770, a total loss. The homeowner arrived as firefighters were finishing up, reports said. One firefighter was slightly injured.

At 5:10 a.m., crews were called to a vacant home at 98 E. Philadelphia Ave., and found flames coming through the center of the South Side home, which had been turned into a triplex. Reports said the blaze appeared to have started in the first living room. Damage there is listed at $13,000. No one was injured.

Damage being assessed

LOWELLVILLE

Almost two weeks after lightning struck the roof of Lowellville High School and set it ablaze, school district officials are beginning to research the cost of repairs.

They met with insurance companies shortly after the June 13 fire, and heard back from them early this week.

“We’ll be getting a price on the roof pretty quick,” said schools Superintendent Rocco Nero. “But there’s nothing concrete yet.”

The fire, which began at about 5 a.m., was contained to a 150-foot strip on the peak of the roof. Water damage was evident on the second floor of the building, while heavy smoke damage was on both the first and second floors.

Theft reported

BOARDMAN

A Boardman man left town for work last Wednesday and returned Monday to find several items — including a muzzleloader, two knives, compact bow and gut hook — missing from his Cook Avenue apartment. A 42-inch TV, Xbox 360 and Vizio sound bar also were missing, all totaling $4,250, according to a report.

The man also told police he discovered food missing from his refrigerator and a fork he did not use or have out before leaving town. Police discovered his apartment door frame was damaged and that all his closets and furniture also were tampered with. The man told police he believes his former tenants across the hall are the culprits as they were moving out while he was gone.

Man taken into custody

YOUNGSTOWN

Police took a man into custody Monday who reports said attacked some neighbors in his South Side neighborhood after be became enraged because they wouldn’t give him more money to go drinking.

Police were called to a 52 E. Lucius Ave. home at about 7 p.m., where three people told them Bud Hull, 33, had been drinking all day and followed his live-in girlfriend to a neighbor’s home after she refused to give him more money to drink.

There, he got mad, shoved his girlfriend and spit in her face and then threatened to kill all three of them after they refused to give him more money, a report said. He ran back to his 21 E. Lucius Ave. home and got two knives and came back threatening to harm them.

When police arrived, he ran back to his home, where he was arrested. He was booked into the Mahoning County jail on charges of domestic violence and two counts of aggravated menacing.

Meeting canceled

Salem

The Salem school board rescheduled its Friday special meeting to 7:15 a.m. Thursday in the administration building, 1226 E. State St. The 2012-13 school year financial closeout and hiring of personnel will be discussed.

Man reports robbery

WARREN

A 48-year-old Parkman Road Northwest man reported that an unidentified man brandished a handgun and robbed him of his 2007 Cadillac STS at Market Street and Parkman Road Northwest at 12:30 a.m. Saturday.

Robbery investigated

WARREN

Warren police are investigating another West Side robbery committed by a young black male on a bicycle and wearing a red bandanna.

A 21-year-old Warren man said he was walking on Front Street Southwest at 3:07 a.m. Monday when a black male on a bicycle pulled up, pulled a handgun and put it to the victim’s head.

The victim said he fought with the suspect and got the gun from him, then threw it over a fence.

Two witnesses said the suspect climbed the fence and recovered it.

Police reported that a skinny black male wearing a red bandanna committed two armed robberies early June 12 on Palmyra Road Southwest and Riverview Street Northwest. The suspect was on a bicycle in one of those robberies, on foot in the other.

Accidental shooting

WARREN

A 29-year-old Ohio Avenue Northwest man reported being accidentally shot in the arm while at a home on Kenwood Drive Southwest at 7:04 p.m. Saturday. The victim went to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital and was taken by helicopter to Cleveland Metro Health Hospital. He reported that the handgun malfunctioned.

Drug citation

YOUNGSTOWN

A man who called police to his home in the 400 block of Imperial Street for a burglary at about 11:25 p.m. Monday was cited for misdemeanor possession of marijuana after officers found a small amount of suspected marijuana in a freezer bag.

Police were called to the street for a report of a large fight and found Adam Sanders, 24, who said he had come home at about 10:30 and saw two men coming out of the side door of his house. He said he and his friends chased the men but lost them.

Police went inside and smelled marijuana in the kitchen, checked in the home and found the bag of suspected marijuana in an upstairs bedroom. Sanders then admitted the men he saw coming out of his house took two other bags of marijuana and he thinks they took more marijuana Saturday.

Committee meeting

Warren

The health and welfare committee of Warren City Council meets at 6 p.m. today in the council caucus room at the municipal justice building, 141 South St. SE.

Purchase planned

WARREN

Trumbull County commissioners are expected to authorize the purchase of a $1.14 million countywide computer “network core” today to replace the 10-year-old core in use now.

Dave Ranttila, county information-technology director, called the core the “brain” of the countywide computer network and said it “has been utilized well past industry standards.”

The provider of the current system stopped providing parts for it about two years ago and no longer provides a service agreement, requiring the county to obtain one from a third party.

The core is located in the IT center on the third floor of the Trumbull County Administration Building.

The IT Department, a division of the Trumbull County Auditor’s Office, recommends purchasing the new core through MCPc, 1801 Superior Ave., Cleveland. The county will pay for it over five years.