Two arrested on drug charges in separate incidents

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Police seized 1 pound of suspected marijuana during a traffic stop Tuesday and 14 bags of suspected crack cocaine while serving a search warrant.

Malcolm North, 34, of South Rockview Avenue, is in the Mahoning County jail on a charge of trafficking in drugs after he was pulled over at West Earle and Glenwood avenues about 11:20 a.m. by officers Mike Anderson and Jeshaila Dunkle on a charge of excessive window tint.

Reports said police found marijuana fragments on North’s shirt and asked him to step out of his car, but he refused for several minutes.

Reports said North wanted to call his attorney, and police said he could, but he had to get out of the car. He rolled the window up and officers told him if he did not get out of the car they would break the window to open the door.

When North got out of the car, he told police he had marijuana, and they found it in a shoebox in the back seat.

City Prosecutor Dana Lantz told Judge Elizabeth Kobly during North’s arraignment Wednesday in municipal court that he has prior drug convictions in 2003 and 2006. Judge Kobly set his bond at $5,000.

Members of the vice squad serving a search warrant at 5:06 p.m. at 708 Miller St. found the suspected crack cocaine, along with a digital scale and a bag of suspected marijuana.

Arrested on a charge of possession of drugs/crack cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia was Eugene Matthews, 29, of Miller Street.

Lantz told Judge Kobly that Matthews had a conviction for aggravated robbery in 2007 and was sentenced to seven years in prison. His bond also was set at $5,000.