METRO DIGEST || Puppy hit by car

Puppy hit by car

YOUNGSTOWN

A dog owner was cited for having a dog running at large and having an unlicensed dog after the 3-month-old German shepherd mix was hit and injured by a car on a West Side street. City police called the dog warden’s office at 6 p.m. Tuesday to report the injured puppy was on its owner’s porch in the 2200 block of Oakwood Avenue. The owner, Jason Goodspeed, who received the citation, said he didn’t have enough money to pay for veterinary care and turned the puppy over to the Mahoning County Dog Warden’s office, according to Dave Nelson, deputy dog warden. The pup was alert and comfortable at the dog pound Tuesday evening and was to be taken to a veterinary clinic this morning, Nelson said. Ten people were on the home’s porch, he added.

Using mom’s identity

BOARDMAN

A Youngstown woman faces felony forgery and identity fraud charges after she reportedly tried to withdraw cash from a Huntington Bank account belonging to a relative.

Employees at the 3960 South Ave. location kept Chandriel Strong, 25, of Oak Street, at the scene until police arrived at about 10 a.m. Monday, according to a police report. They said Strong tried to withdraw a large amount of money from her juvenile daughter’s account, which can be accessed only by Strong’s mother. Strong reportedly tried to use her mother’s ID card as if it were her own and then signed her mother’s name on the withdrawal slip.

Police also discovered that she had in her possession two wallets containing numerous credit cards that belong to her mother.

ODOT facility opening

LISBON

Jerry Wray, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation; Lloyd MacAdam, deputy director of ODOT District 11; and ODOT’s Columbiana County staff launched balloons Tuesday to celebrate the grand opening of the department’s $10 million maintenance facility.

The investment in eastern Ohio’s transportation system will improve customer service and the overall efficiency of ODOT’s operations, officials said.

The new facility replaced an outdated, 45-year-old structure and was constructed on ODOT’s property along U.S. Route 30 outside of Lisbon.

Construction added material storage, including a 2,000-ton salt structure built next to the current 4,000-ton structure; an equipment storage building; a truck-storage building with 25 stalls; a mechanical-service area; a two-truck wash bay; a material lay down area; a fuel station; and a main garage building with offices.

The primary contractor was Regency Construction Services of Lakewood.

Prison recommended

YOUNGSTOWN

Prosecutors are recommending three years in prison for an 18-year-old man who pleaded guilty to weapons charges in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Altay Baker pleaded guilty Tuesday before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum to charges of carrying a concealed weapon, possession of drugs and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Sentencing has not been set. Assistant Prosecutor Natasha Frenchko is recommending three years in prison.

Police say they found a 9mm handgun Baker threw in a Crandall Avenue yard after he ran from officers who were investigating a fight call on the North Side March 13. Baker was found in a garage on Alameda Avenue.

Police said they found a bag of suspected marijuana and 11 pills on Baker when he was arrested.

Convicted of burglary

WARREN

A jury in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court deliberated 20 minutes Tuesday before convicting Maurice Moore, 47, of Akron, of burglary.

Moore, who served as his own attorney during the trial that began Monday, broke into a house on Trumbull Avenue Southeast on June 21, 2012.

He cut himself while breaking a window in the front door, and his blood dropped onto the wood floor and door knob, police said.

DNA from the sample matched a sample Moore gave when he was imprisoned for an earlier crime, prosecutors said.

He took a television, DVD player, DVDs, stereo equipment, camera, laptop, leather jacket and police scanner, police said. Moore could get up to eight years in prison when he is sentenced at 1:30 p.m. June 10.

Shackled, hooded

YOUNGSTOWN

A man arrested Monday afternoon on two traffic warrants after a fight on the North Side broke a tail light in a police cruiser, reports said. Officers were called to a home in the 2900 block of Dearborn Street about 5:35 p.m. for a report of a fight. Upon arrival, they found Richard Barta, 42, in front of the house, smelling heavily of alcohol and yelling at officers.

Police did a records check and found that Barta had warrants from municipal court in 2008 and 2011 on several traffic charges, and he was taken into custody, reports said.

On the way to the Mahoning County jail, he was kicking in the back seat of the cruiser and broke a taillight in the car’s rear window, according to a report.

At the jail, corrections officers had to place Barta in leg shackles because he would not stop kicking and also put a hood on him so he would not spit on anyone, reports said.