METRO DIGEST || Youngstown man reports robbery

Youngstown man reports robbery

YOUNGSTOWN

A 35-year-old Youngstown man told police that he was robbed at gunpoint while driving on the North Side.

The man told police he was in his car about 5 p.m. Thursday on Virginia Street when two men crossed the street slowly in front of him. He looked down and the two men were at his car window with guns demanding his watch and necklace, according to a police report. The man complied, and one of the gunmen also took his handgun from the car’s middle console, the report states. The two gunmen fled on foot.

Cops look for driver

YOUNGSTOWN

Police are looking for a motorist who crashed a vehicle into a utility pole on Shehy Street, leaving some people on the East Side without power for a few hours.

Police say the accident happened about 3:30 a.m. Friday with the pole knocked over. After the crash, the driver fled the scene, leaving the disabled vehicle behind, police said. Power to a few homes in the area was fully restored about four hours later.

WARREN

Even if an appeal doesn’t cause a long delay in the murder case of Jacob Larosa, 16, of Niles, it will be at least Sept. 19 before he will go to trial.

Larosa is charged with aggravated murder, attempted rape, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary in the March 31 beating death of his neighbor, Marie Belcastro, 94, of Cherry Street in Niles. Larosa was 15.

On Friday, Larosa waived the requirement that he be tried within 90 days of his indictment. He allowed 300 more days for Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to have a trial. The judge set Larosa’s trial for Sept. 19 and a pretrial hearing for 11 a.m. Feb. 25.

Larosa’s attorneys appealed a county juvenile-court decision to move his case to common pleas court instead of trying him as a juvenile. It’s not known how long it will take for the appeals court to rule.

Food giveaway

YOUNGSTOWN

Nevels Temple Church of God in Christ, 939 Elm St., will have a food giveaway from 2 to 4 p.m. today. Participants are asked to bring containers and identification.

Watch to meet

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The Beaver Police Department’s Crime Watch will meet at 7 p.m. Jan. 26 at Shepherd of the Valley, 9111 Sharrott Road.

Lt. Dan Valentine will be the featured speaker.

Meetings will now take place in the main building. A farewell get-together has been planned from 2 to 4 p.m. today for longtime watch member Ray Braidich.

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