Cops find gun; man admits to growing, selling pot

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Reports say one of three men arrested on the East Side early Thursday afternoon admitted growing and selling his own marijuana.

Jamal Moody, 19, of Youngstown had six bags of suspected marijuana on him when he was arrested about 1:15 p.m. in front of an Eliot Lane home. Reports said he told officers he was growing the drug on Rigby Street and selling it for $5 a bag so he could raise money to buy a birth certificate.

Moody was arrested as officers with the Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force officers on patrol spotted a man he was with, Juan Phillips, 29, who they knew had several warrants pending against him.

When the officers stopped, Phillips ran and reached for his waist and tossed what looked like a gun in the air, according to police reports.

Phillips ran for a short while before falling to the ground. After he was handcuffed, officers searched the home he was in front of, and they found a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the roof. He was taken into custody on the warrants, all of them for traffic charges from Youngstown Municipal Court, as well as for the charge of carrying concealed weapons.

Moody was searched as was another man with him, Keymonnie Harris, 22, of Youngstown. When Harris was searched, police found a small amount of suspected marijuana and three Vicodin pills. He was arrested on a charge of drug possession.

Moody was charged with trafficking in marijuana. All three were taken to Mahoning County jail.