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Man arraigned on third weapons charge in four months
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man who is out on a combined bond of more than $100,000 on two different weapons charges was arraigned Wednesday on a third weapons charge, after being caught during a foot chase.
Municipal Judge Robert Milich set bond at $30,000 for James Abanathey, 28, of Lauderdale Avenue, on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and obstructing official business.
Abanathey was arrested about 12:45 a.m. Wednesday in the 1600 block of Wick Avenue after he ran from a traffic stop on Thornton Avenue, reports said.
Officers retraced the route he ran and found a .45-caliber handgun next to a fence that he had climbed over to escape police.
Court records show this is the third time since August that Abanathey was arrested on the charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
On Aug. 4, reports said Abanathey and another man were inside a home where members of the vice squad served a search warrant investigating drug activity. Inside that home police found two assault rifles, as well as two handguns.
He was arraigned Aug. 15 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and was able to post a bond of $45,000. Trial in that case is set for March 27.
On Sept. 22, Abanathey was arrested again. Court records show he was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence. The case was bound over to common pleas court, and he was able to post a $62,500 bond Oct. 3. Court records do not show a trial date in that case.
Despite the fact he was able to post more than $100,000 bond in two different cases, he was still awarded a court-appointed lawyer Wednesday.
Earlier Wednesday, officers working a YMHA patrol spotted a car with loud music that Abanathey was in on Thornton Avenue.
When they pulled the car over, Abanathey ran, scaling a fence on Thornton Avenue and leading officers on a chase until they found him in a driveway in the 1600 block of Wick Avenue. He was taken to the Mahoning County jail.
Court records show Abanathey has been to prison in 2013 and 2015 for drug charges, and the earlier sentence ran concurrent to a prison sentence for failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer that arose from a 2011 case.