METRO DIGEST || Youngstown police shoot raccoon
Police shoot raccoon
YOUNGSTOWN
Police snared and fatally shot a raccoon they found at the rear entrance to a residence at Oak Hill Avenue and New Court on Monday morning after being called there by the homeowner.
The raccoon carcass was placed in a police garage refrigerator until the city health department could pick it up for rabies testing, according to Dave Nelson, deputy Mahoning County dog warden.
Nelson said it is unusual to see a normally nocturnal raccoon at 9:30 a.m. when police were on the scene. Nelson said he heard references to aggressive behavior by the raccoon on the police scanner.
Thief bites ear off
BOARDMAN
A man trying to stop a car break-in needed more than 20 stitches after he was assaulted by a suspect.
Boardman Police Chief Jack Nichols said the injury, a partially severed and bleeding ear, was a result of an attempt to stop the break-in.
Joshua Dailey and Joseph Puntel saw a man breaking into Puntel’s vehicle early Sunday morning. Dailey confronted the suspect, who bit a portion of his ear off.
Dailey was treated at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital for his injuries, and the case is under investigation.
Guilty pleas in robbery
YOUNGSTOWN
Sentencing will take place after a pre-sentence investigation for two men who pleaded guilty Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to three counts each of aggravated robbery with firearm specifications.
Judge Maureen Sweeney accepted guilty pleas from Kalen Handy, 19, of Lakewood Avenue, and Alex Seymore, 19, of Woodbine Avenue in Struthers. The two entered their pleads for their roles in a July 14 robbery of three Poland teens in Yellow Creek Park. Prosecutors are recommending sentences of seven years for Handy and 10 years for Seymore.
Woman pleads
YOUNGSTOWN
Grace Sciarra, 30, of Leavittsburg pleaded guilty Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to charges she engaged in illegal activity at an Austintown truck stop. She will be sentenced at a later date for promoting prostitution and money laundering.
Sciarra was indicted on those charges as well as a count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. The latter charge was dropped when she entered her plea.
Sciarra was indicted after an undercover investigation at the 76 Spa on 76 Drive uncovered illegal activity last summer.
Robbery attempt
BOARDMAN
Township police are investigating a robbery attempt in which the victim confronted a gun-wielding suspect who was trying to break into his vehicle.
Police responded to a business at 1118 Meadowbrook Ave. early Thursday, where an employee reported a male suspect tried to rob him.
The victim said he hit the suspect with a stick when he observed him going through his vehicle, in which a window had been smashed. The suspect then brandished a gun at the victim, and fled in a van. Only loose change was stolen from the victim’s vehicle.
Felony abduction case
NILES
Bradley L. Kinnison, 20, of Clark Street, was released Monday from the Trumbull County Jail after posting $5,000 bond on a charge of felony abduction of his girlfriend Saturday morning.
Police said they were called to the Clark Street address at 10:43 a.m. by Kinnison’s girlfriend, 18, of Champion Street in Champion.
The girl wanted to go shopping, but Kinnison didn’t, so the girl called a female friend, police said. Kinnison took her cellphone and refused to allow her to leave his home, the girlfriend said. Her female friend pushed her way into the home and helped the girlfriend escape, but Kinnison got in the female friend’s car and punched out a rear window, police said.
Kinnison cut his hands while punching the window, police said. Kinnison pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor criminal damaging related to the broken window.
Injured in fight
WARREN
A 21-year-old man of Miller Street Southwest suffered a severe knife wound to his leg and a cut knuckle in a fight with another man outside of a Youngstown Road Southeast tavern Christmas night.
The victim said he was inside the tavern about 11:30 p.m. when he and the other man argued and then fought outside. Other men who had knives also started to attack him, including one who tried to stab him, but he blocked it with his knuckles.
He was stabbed in the shin, and the men fled, he told police. Police went to the bar after talking to the victim, but the bar was closed, and there was no evidence of a disturbance.
Hubbard boil advisory
HUBBARD
The city issued a voluntary water-conservation request Monday while it repairs a few minor leaks on its main water-transmission line.
In addition, the city has issued a precautionary boil-water advisory until 8 a.m. Wednesday, unless further notice is given. It is recommended that water be boiled for one minute and allowed to cool before drinking, used in cooking or personal hygiene. This is a precautionary measure, a city news release says.
Shot fired at work vehicle
YOUNGSTOWN
A worker for Dominion East Ohio said someone fired a shot at a company vehicle he was sitting in on the South Side at about 9:15 p.m. Sunday.
Reports said the worker told police he was in the 200 block of East Ravenwood Avenue on a work-related matter when he heard a pop and the rear window of his vehicle shattered.
The driver was not injured. Police could not find a bullet inside the vehicle, reports said.
Shell casings found
YOUNGSTOWN
Police recovered 20 shell casings about 9:30 p.m. Saturday in front of a home that was shot at in the 700 block of Samuel Street on the South Side.
Witnesses inside told police they heard voices outside just before the gunfire. No one was injured. Reports said police found 11 empty .380-caliber shell casings and nine 9 mm shell casings as well as two spent bullets inside the home.
ODOT work planned
LISBON
Workers with the Ohio Department of Transportation will be handling these tasks in Columbiana County this week: brush-cutting on U.S. Route 30 between Lisbon and Hanoverton; berm maintenance and culvert replacement on state Route 46 between East Palestine and New Waterford; and washout repair and drainage work on state Route 165 from Unity to the Mahoning County line.
Ex-player sentenced
WARREN
Arbie D. Murray, 20, who has addresses in Howland and Niles, was sentenced to eight months in prison Monday after pleading earlier to a felony charge of marijuana trafficking.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol filed the charge in February.
Murray, who was a top performer on the Howland High School basketball team in his senior year in 2013, has four other cases pending in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, all of them involving marijuana trafficking.
He pleaded guilty in two of the four cases earlier and is awaiting sentencing. One of the five is pending with a grand jury.
Various charges have been filed 24 times in Warren Municipal Court against Murray since the beginning of the year.