Boardman man faces drug charges

YOUNGSTOWN — A dispute over what a man had inside his pants led police and corrections officers at the Mahoning County jail to find pills, suspected marijuana and suspected heroin Thursday.

Reports said Austin Lee Mendenhall, 29, of Applecrest Court, Boardman, was a passenger in a car pulled over at 6:25 p.m. at Cleveland Avenue and Hillman Street on the South Side for failing to stop at a stop sign.

Reports said officers saw a bottle of cough syrup and a hollowed out cigar which is often filled with marijuana inside.

Mendenhall gave officers a bag of suspected marijuana and was searched. An officer felt a hard object inside Mendenhall’s pants but he denied having anything, reports said.

Officers continued questioning him and a scale fell out of his pants. When officers placed Mendenall inside a police car, a bag of suspected marijuana fell out of his pants. He then told police he had nothing else on him.

At the jail, however, another bag fell out of his pants which had a chunk of suspected heroin, a bag of suspected marijuana and several pills. Mendenhall also had $2,390 in cash in his possession.

Mendenhall was booked into the jail on charges of possession of heroin, possession of drugs, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Police issued a traffic citation to the car’s driver.