METRO DIGEST || Junior Achievement competition

JA competition

GIRARD

In honor of National Entrepreneurship Week, Junior Achievement of Mahoning Valley is conducting its first JA Quick Pitch: Pitch it to win it! competition. This pilot program was launched with students from Canfield High School that had Junior Achievement’s JA Be Entrepreneurial program last semester.

At the conclusion of the class, students were encouraged to come up with a 60-second video pitch and submit it to Junior Achievement for the contest. Public voting takes place through the JA web site at http://warren-youngstown.ja.org until 11:59 p.m. Monday.

Students who receive the most votes for best-product idea will win $375, and the team that receives the most votes for best-video presentation will win $175. Junior Achievement of Mahoning Valley will use this project as a pilot for a larger program it is planning to implement in the fall to all high-school students in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties.

Police need help to ID suspect

WARREN

Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man who took the wallet of a woman Feb. 19 at Sam’s Club, 1040 Niles-Cortland Road.

A surveillance photo shows the man wearing a hat, dark jacket and blue jeans looking at the wallet as he entered the store.

The video shows the woman dropping the wallet in the parking lot and leaving without it. She realized she didn’t have it and returned to the store a short time later and told an employee, hoping she had left it in her shopping cart, but the employee could not locate it.

The video shows the man walking into the store with the wallet, going into the bathroom with it and then leaving the store without giving it to anyone.

It also shows him leaving the parking lot in a burgundy Ram pickup truck with a matching cap over the bed. Anyone with information is asked to call Sgt. Joe Kistler at 330-841-2656.

Mercer County fatality

SHARPSVILLE, PA.

A Sharpsville, Pa., man, Dakota Stainbrook, 22, died in a one-vehicle crash Thursday along Charleston Road in Mercer County. He was a front seat passenger in the vehicle, reported 21 WFMJ-TV , The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

Police said the driver of the vehicle, Mariah Bosley, and Kourtney Alexander, a back seat passenger, were taken to UPMC Farrell Hospital with minor injuries. Another back seat passenger, Dallas Sposito, was transported to S. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital for treatment of head injuries.

The ages and addresses of the persons involved were not available. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Domestic violence

AUSTINTOWN

A man arrested on a charge of domestic violence pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday in Mahoning County Area Court here.

Officers charged James Pesano, 31, of East Broadway Avenue, Girard, with two counts of domestic violence after a verbal argument turned physical at a home on Westchester Drive. Officers reported Pesano threatened and assaulted two victims Tuesday. Neither victim sustained any injuries. Pesano has a trial set for 11 a.m. March 16.

Heroin overdose

AUSTINTOWN

After a woman overdosed on heroin, officers arrested a man on a number of drug charges.

According to a police report, a man and woman entered a township business after taking heroin. When the woman became unconscious, David Parke, 22, of Calla Avenue, Warren, fled the business and hid two syringes and suspected heroin behind a trash receptacle behind the building, police said. Officers caught him and made the arrest.

Parke is charged with corrupting another person with drugs, possessing and using heroin, trafficking in heroin, tampering with evidence, possession of drug-abuse instruments and falsification of identification. He has an arraignment at 1 p.m. Monday in Mahoning County Area Court here. The woman was revived and taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, police said.

Interstate child rape

CLEVELAND

A truck driver faces up to life in prison after he was convicted of crossing state lines to rape an 11-year old girl.

Iraephraim Underwood, 59, of Youngstown, was convicted by a jury of one count of crossing a state line to engage in a sexual act with a person under age 12 and one count of transporting someone under 18 in interstate commerce with the intent to engage in an illegal sexual act, the U.S. Attorney said Thursday.

Underwood is expected to be sentenced later this year by U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Gaughan.

This case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from Youngstown and Boardman police departments.

Remove Christmas items from cemetery

CANFIELD

The city requests that all Christmas decorations be retrieved from Canfield cemeteries by Tuesday. Any decorations left after that date will be removed.

Road to close 30 days

COLUMBIANA

Work is planned to begin Tuesday to repair two sets of bridges on state Route 11.

One set is located just south of the state Route 344 interchange, and the other pair is located about three miles north of state Route 154.

Route 11 traffic will be maintained with one lane in each direction and crossovers during construction.

Lodge Road, located under the set of bridges closest to state Route 154, however, will be closed for 30 days on two separate occasions in May and mid-July.

ODOT’s contractor for this $2.8 million project is A.P. O’Horo Co. of Youngstown, and the completion date is mid-October.