Two indicted in Canfield prostitution case

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A Mahoning County grand jury indicted two women arrested in Canfield last month on prostitution charges.

Shanika Simmons, 31, of Fifth Avenue, and Leah C. Petruzzi, 34, of Hood Drive in Canfield, were indicted Thursday on charges of promoting prostitution, a fourth-degree felony, and soliciting prostitution, a third-degree misdemeanor.

The two were arrested Oct. 3 after a traffic stop in Canfield. Police said they made a minor drug arrest of someone who left Petruzzi’s home. Police also had received complaints of unusual activity at the home.

When they did some investigating, they found out that Petruzzi and Simmons both were arrested Oct. 1 as part of a prostitution sting in Liberty. They then found an online ad that advertised prostitution services at a Canfield address. When they called a phone number associated with the ad, they confirmed it.

An undercover officer entered the home, and when he was offered services, other police were called in and the pair were arrested. A man inside the home at the same time was not arrested because police could find no evidence he was doing anything illegal.

The grand jury also indicted Keith Sims, 25, of Ford Avenue, on two counts of murder and felonious assault with a firearm specification in the Oct. 25 shooting death of 23-year-old Shaniece Wells of Maplewood Court.

Wells was shot to death late Oct. 25 at a South Side home in the 800 block of East Boston Avenue.

Police said she was with a group of friends who were upset with Sims, who was in an argument at the home earlier in the evening with another man. The friends drove to the home to confront Sims and were leaving when Wells was shot.

Sims surrendered to police two days later after a warrant was issued for his arrest. He has been in the county jail since his arrest on a $2 million bond, which was set at his arraignment in municipal court.