METRO DIGEST || Youngstown man accused of child rapes

Accused of child rapes

WARREN

Bond was set at $200,000 for David A. Gadd Jr., 29, of McClure Avenue, Youngstown, who was secretly indicted this week in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on three counts of rape and three counts of gross sexual imposition.

If convicted of any of the rape counts, he could receive a life prison sentence.

He is accused of raping an 8-year-old girl three times in 2012 and having sexual contact with two other girls, age 10 and 7, over that same time period in Trumbull County.

He appeared in court Wednesday for an arraignment and again Thursday for a preliminary hearing. The case stemmed from an investigation by Howland police and Trumbull County Children Services that began in 2013.

Ex-coach sentenced

YOUNGSTOWN

A former Austintown assistant wrestling coach was sentenced to 14 days’ house arrest after a plea bargain in municipal court Thursday.

Matthew Kuti, 25, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of attempted obstruction of justice before Judge Elizabeth Kobly. He also had completed an alcohol-treatment plan. Still pending in county court in Boardman from the same incident are charges of domestic violence and operating a vehicle while impaired.

He was arrested after police in Boardman received a call Feb. 8 that a man had punched a woman. He was a coach at the middle school in Austintown. His contract was not renewed.

Fires damage 2 homes

youngstown

Firefighters responded to two cooking fires Wednesday.

Crews called to a 907 Lyden Ave. home on the East Side found a pan on fire on the stove. The flames were put out with a fire extinguisher. Damage is listed at $900.

About 9:25 p.m., crews were called to a 3531 Hillman Ave. apartment complex on the South Side, where the occupant of an apartment told firefighters she fell asleep while cooking french fries when the oil ignited and caught the cabinets on fire and filled the apartment with smoke. Damage there is listed at $5,025.

No one was injured in either fire.

Escape goes awry

youngstown

A 24-year-old woman’s escape from a robber didn’t go as planned.

An officer on patrol Thursday afternoon on Bentley Avenue on the East Side saw a car on the side of a hill, nearly tipped over. The woman in the car told him she and a passenger were parked in a driveway on the street when a man approached demanding money and tried to grab her purse.

She put the car in reverse and tried to back out of the driveway but instead ran up the side of the hill and got stuck.

The robber followed, reached into the car, grabbed the car keys and fled south on Bentley, the woman told police.

Cigarette causes fire

POLAND

Firefighters put out a bedroom fire early Thursday.

Fire officials responded to 92 Venloe Drive at 12:26 a.m. Thursday after receiving a call from a female occupant about a bedroom fire.

Western Reserve Joint Fire District Chief Chip Comstock said she woke up with smoke in the house and found a fire in an unoccupied bedroom. He said because she closed the door to the room, the fire was prevented from spreading, and the only damage was to that room and smoke damage in the home.

There were no injuries. Comstock said the cause of the fire was a discarded or accidentally dropped cigarette.

Space-heater fire

YOUNGSTOWN

A space heater at an East Side home started a small fire Wednesday that caused $1,250 in damage, fire reports said.

Crews were called to 1507 Bennington Ave. at about 2:30 p.m., and when they arrived, they found a fire in a bathroom where a space heater was plugged in. Reports said there was no gas service at the home but there was electric.

The cause of the fire was listed as electrical, reports said. No one was injured.