2 jailed, 3 others from Pa. cited on heroin-related charges
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The holiday weekend was not a good one for western Pennsylvania residents who came to the city looking for drugs.
Police arrested two people and cited three others in separate incidents Friday and Sunday on heroin-related charges.
In both incidents, police found them at areas on the South Side that are known for drug activity.
About 6:35 p.m. Sunday, officer Michael Sember drove past a parking lot in the 2500 block of Market Street, where several drug arrests are made on a weekly basis, and spotted two people in a car far away from the business.
When the officer stopped to check, he found Joshua Deangio, 23, of Fredonia, Pa., in the driver’s seat, and Mitchell Block, 22, of New Castle, Pa., in the passenger’s seat.
Reports said the two had stopped in the parking lot on the way to Southern Park Mall to get something to eat, but the officer did not believe them because of the distance between the places, reports said. Deangio then said he had a dose of heroin in the car and he was about to snort it before the officer showed up. Block also told the officer he had a needle in his pocket, reports said.
Reports said Block was taken out of the car, and the officer found the needle in his pockets and also found a burnt spoon in the car where he was sitting. He was taken to the Mahoning County jail on misdemeanor charges of possession of a drug-abuse instrument and possession of drug paraphernalia and later released, according to jail records. When Deangio was taken out of the car, police found a brown, powdery substance on the screen of his iPhone that was suspected heroin. He was taken to the jail on a felony charge of possession of heroin. His bond was set at $7,500 during his arraignment by Judge Elizabeth Kobly.
Just after 4 p.m. Friday, officer Mohammad Awad spotted a van in the parking lot of a Glenwood Avenue gas station where there also has been a large number of drug arrests.
Reports said there were four people in the van, and they all had their heads down. When Awad got out of his cruiser, they all jumped out of the van and tried to get away from it while leaving the doors open.
Inside the van were needles and several empty sandwich bags, the kind of which usually have drugs in them, reports said. Reports said Dustin Dean, 34, of New Castle, told police he had a loaded syringe in the center console. Jessica Locke, 27, of Darlington, Pa., said she had two needles on her, and Jeff Murphey, 29, of New Galilee, Pa., also had needles. When the officer searched Locke’s purse, he found the needles, as well as a digital scale and a burnt spoon, reports said.
Also in the van was Kyree Grabe, 20, of Trussit Avenue, who had a bag of suspected marijuana in his pocket, reports said. Grabe, Locke and Murphey were all issued citations on misdemeanor drug offenses, while Dean was taken to the county jail on a charge of possession of heroin, which was amended at his arraignment to misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a drug-abuse instrument. His bond was set at $5,000.
Overall, police arrested or cited nine people over the weekend on various drug offenses.