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Children taken from Columbiana County moms caught doing heroin
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A Leetonia woman arrested Wednesday afternoon on the South Side with heroin and her 4-year-old child in the car is the second such arrest within a week.
Alicia Rogenski, 28, was arrested about 2:20 p.m. after she was spotted acting suspiciously in a Glenwood Avenue parking lot that is well known as a spot for drug users, police reports said.
She is in the Mahoning County jail on charges of possession of heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Police said another woman from Columbiana County – Emilee Shaw, also 28, of East Palestine – was caught with heroin in a car Dec. 30 in a South Avenue parking lot and has been in the Mahoning County jail on $15,000 bond on charges of possession of heroin, possession of drug paraphernalia and child endangering because her two children, age 11 months and 6, were in the car with her.
She was set for a preliminary hearing in municipal court Thursday but waived her hearing. The charges now will be considered by a grand jury. She remains in the jail.
Officers Nick Menichini and Mohammad Awad were on patrol Wednesday when they passed a 2637 Glenwood Ave. gas station and noticed a woman who appeared to be working on something while slumped over the steering wheel of a car in the parking lot. Because the parking lot has been a place where several drug arrests have been made, the officers stopped to investigate.
Reports said officers found Rogenski with something clutched in her hand and asked her to step out of the car. Her 4-year-old daughter was in the back seat, reports said. When Rogenski stepped out, she unclenched her hand, where a dose of heroin was found, and she was arrested.
She also had two needles, reports said.
The officers then searched the car and found additional drug paraphernalia.
At one point, the girl told Menichini, “That’s Mommy’s dope stuff.”
Workers from Mahoning County Children Services were called for the child, and they took the child until they could consult with CSB workers in Columbiana County on how to take care of her. A police report noted that Rogenski has an open case with the Columbiana County CSB.
When Shaw was arrested, her children were turned over to a family friend approved by the Columbiana County CSB.
The man arrested with Shaw, Cliff Kilgar, 28, of Poland, also was to have a preliminary hearing Thursday, but it was continued so the court could appoint a lawyer.
Kilgar told Judge Elizabeth Kobly he thought he could hire an attorney when he was arraigned Dec. 31, but he has lost his job since he has been in the jail and has no money to hire a lawyer.
On Christmas Day, Awad and other officers arrested four people in the Glenwood Avenue parking lot who police said were doing drugs in a van.