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Police arrest candidate John Crea; city judge orders mental-health check
By joe gorman
youngstown
A mayoral candidate was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation in the Mahoning County jail after he was arrested early Wednesday.
John Crea, 46, was arrested on a probation violation for failing to report for a previous evaluation, as well as a warrant for three counts of aggravated menacing. He was ordered held on $15,000 bond for the three charges.
The evaluation will determine if he is competent to stand trial for the charges, said municipal court Judge Elizabeth Kobly.
Crea sported a bruised eye as he was arraigned via video hookup from the county jail and had to be told to be quiet several times during his arraignment. He also answered “yes” in different languages when the judge asked him if he understood the proceedings.
Jim Denney, a lawyer hired by Crea’s family, said he wants to see whether Crea can get mental-health treatment through the court’s Veterans Treatment Court program. Denney said his client, a former Kent State University football player, had served in the Air Force after college.
Crea was ordered by municipal Judge Robert Milich on Sept. 19 to undergo the evaluation after he was sentenced to 21 days already served in the jail. He had been arrested for threatening a security guard at city hall with his dog Aug. 30. The evaluation was scheduled for Tuesday, but Crea did not attend, which led to the warrant for the probation violation.
The aggravated-menacing charges stem from an incident at his East Midlothian Boulevard apartment Monday, where he was accused of threatening three people. Reports said he threatened to kill one of them. When police showed up at his apartment, he already had gone.
On Sunday, he disrupted a church service by hitting the wall and himself in the head, forcing the service to end early.
Crea was arrested early Wednesday morning with his dog at the Civil War monument on Central Square downtown. Humane agents took custody of the dog.
Judge Milich said this week while he can order Crea to undergo an evaluation, as a municipal judge he can not forcibly commit someone to a mental-health facility for treatment. He said police can “pink slip,” or take someone to a psychiatric facility if they think someone is a danger to themselves or others, but that’s for only a short time, and that is often done in an emergency.
According to the Ohio law, the Mahoning County Probate Court, which handles civil commitments, has the authority to issue involuntary commitment orders for someone who is mentally ill and comes before the court.
Usually, a family member deems a person to be a menace to family, himself or society, and appeals to the probate court to have the person committed to a treatment facility, said Ronald Marian, director of the Mahoning County Mental Health Board.
A municipal court judge can order a person incarcerated and psychologically evaluated, and the police can arrest and jail a person and get him evaluated. Neither, however, has the authority to force him into treatment, officials said.