Youngstown police cite 3 men for removing property not their own

YOUNGSTOWN — Police cited three men for unauthorized removal after officers say they caught them taking items Thursday afternoon out of a house heavily damaged by fire.

Officers were called to the South Side neighborhood of East Philadelphia Avenue and Erie Street about 3 p.m. for a report of people in the drive of home in the 200 block of East Philadelphia home taking items out of the house. When officers arrived they spotted a pickup truck pulling out of the drive loaded with goods and stopped it, reports said.

Inside the truck was a burned-out refrigerator, a burned freezer chest and a washer and dryer. One of the men in the truck at first said the items were on the curb, then said they were in the backyard.

Cited were city residents Harold Shuler, 22; Derek Smith, 23; and Julius May, 57.