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Trumbull grand jury to hear charges against 5 arrested on turnpike
By Ed Runyan
NEWTON FALLS
On Nov. 12, a day before the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, five men were arrested while traveling east on the Ohio Turnpike in Braceville Township.
They are Zakaria O. Warsame, 35, of Columbus; Mohammeddeq M. Hassan, 27, of Tukwila, Wash.; Mohamed A. Mahamoud, 26, of Columbus; Jibril M. Abdiselam, 24, of Seattle; and Said S. Abu, 24, of Columbus.
A trooper with the Ohio State Highway Patrol said he observed the driver commit two driving violations and made a traffic stop. After smelling marijuana coming from the car, a search was conducted that uncovered marijuana, cash and items frequently used to make fake identification and credit cards, the trooper testified during a preliminary hearing Thursday in Newton Falls Municipal Court.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Philip Vigorito bound over the cases to a Trumbull County grand jury to determine whether they will be indicted.
Each is facing six counts of possessing criminal tools, a low-level felony that usually results in no jail time.
Some are also charged with identity theft, another low-level felony, and a few misdemeanors.
The headlines from several news organizations Wednesday was that the five men were “foreign nationals,” meaning they were not United States citizens.
After the hearing, however, Atty. A. Joseph Fritz, Newton Falls prosecutor, said: “At least three appear to be American citizens, possibly all five.”
One of the five, Abdiselam, is listed on jail booking information as having been born in Kenya, but the birthplace for the other four is the United States.
The topic of their citizenship came up at the hearing twice, with Atty. Kelly Newbrough stating that his client, Said Abu, “is a citizen of the United States.”
Atty. Devon Stanley, who represented Mohameddeg Hassan, mentioned the Paris attacks and asked the trooper who made the traffic stop, Brandon Miller, whether concerns about terrorism had anything to do with the traffic stop.
“No,” Miller responded.
Judge Vigorito also refused to modify bond for any of them, keeping it at $25,000 and saying that if any of them have passports, they must surrender them before being released.