Two arrested, arraigned on drug charges

By Joe Gorman | January 1, 2015 at 12:02a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Two men arrested on drug charges in separate traffic stops Tuesday were arraigned in municipal court.

Taavi Parind, 29, of Salem, was a passenger in a car police pulled over about 4:35 p.m. Tuesday at Judson and Erie avenues for not having a front license plate.

Reports said someone threw several items out of the passenger window of the car before it stopped for police. Officers searched the street where the items were thrown and found a bag of suspected cocaine and 13 pills.

When Parind was taken out of the car and searched, police found five more pills. He was taken to the Mahoning County jail on charges of possession of drugs/cocaine, possession of dangerous drugs and a warrant for failure to appear on a theft charge.

At his arraignment Wednesday, city Prosecutor Dana Lantz told Magistrate Anthony Sertick that Parind has multiple theft charges and convictions from several jurisdictions, including Austintown, Columbiana and from the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.

Sertick set his bond at $10,000 as well as 10 percent of $3,500 on his theft warrant.

Police cited the driver, Christopher Gaston, no age or address listed, for not having a front license plate and released him at the scene.

Also arraigned was 20-year-old Kayln Darnell Sly of Youngstown, who police arrested on a charge of possession of heroin about 1:15 a.m. Tuesday at Salt Springs Road and Oregon Avenue on the West Side.

Lantz told Sertick that Sly has an extensive juvenile criminal record, and in just two years as an adult he has been convicted of resisting arrest, improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, served jail time, then had other charges of burglary, kidnapping and criminal damaging in Girard, a probation violation and a disorderly-conduct charge.

Sly told Sertick all the cases against him are closed and they have taken place in his past. Sertick set Sly’s bond at $10,000.

Reports said Sly was in a car pulled over for not having a rear license plate light. Police said he had no driver’s license, registration or insurance information with him and he initially gave the arresting officer a false name.

A records check showed that Sly has multiple suspensions on his license. When police searched the car, they found a bag of suspected heroin in the center console, reports said.