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Woman charged with obstruction in murder case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A woman was arrested Monday on charges she lied to detectives investigating the city’s latest homicide.
Felicia Ward, 24, of Palmer Avenue in Campbell, is in the Mahoning County jail on a third-degree felony charge of obstructing justice. She is expected to be arraigned today in municipal court.
Lt. Doug Bobovnyik said Ward is a witness in the slaying of Howard Ramey, 53, of Palmer Avenue, who was found late Aug. 12 in his basement after family members were concerned because they had not heard from him. Ramey was found in a fruit cellar in his basement, police said.
So far, there have been no arrests in Ramey’s death. All Bobovnyik would say of the case Tuesday is that the case is an “ongoing investigation.”
Court records list the date of the offense as Aug. 20, but Bobovnyik would not say if Ward was interviewed that day or what else she may have done to mislead them.
“She knowingly attempted to conceal information and mislead investigators during the scope of the investigation,” Bobovnyik said.
Court records show that in 2011, Ward was arrested for misdemeanor obstruction of official business after police said she lied to them when they visited a home where she was, looking for a suspect wanted for felonious assault. Reports said she told police the man they were looking for was not there but police found the man there. She pleaded no contest in municipal court and was found guilty and placed on six months’ probation.
Ward has a pending case in common pleas court where she is set to be sentenced Sept. 21 after pleading guilty to a charge of burglary that was bound over from Campbell Municipal Court.
Bobovnyik said it took more than a week to charge Ward because even though investigators knew she was lying to them, they received new information several days later that confirmed the lie, and then they had to get an arrest warrant, which was issued late Monday afternoon.