Calling hours set

Calling hours set

AUSTINTOWN

Calling hours for 24-year veteran Austintown firefighter John Fritz will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at Austintown Fitch High School, 4560 Falcon Drive, in the auditorium. Firefighters will be doing a fire department vehicle drive-by at 8 p.m. In addition, the Saturday funeral also will be at the high school at 10 a.m. after the 9 a.m. calling hours.

Fritz died Monday morning on duty at Fire Station No. 1. He leaves his wife and five children.

Life in prison

WARREN

Eric A. Benson Jr., 19, of 12th Street in Weathersfield Township, and Broadway in Youngstown, was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison with parole eligibility after 10 years for raping a girl, then 5, at a playground in the Suburban Trailer Park in Warren Township last August.

Benson pleaded guilty in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to rape and received the sentence proposed by prosecutors to Judge Andrew Logan.

Weathersfield police were called to the playground for a disturbance with witnesses, said Weathersfield Police Chief Michael Naples.

Police were then advised of the assault that had occurred no more than a few hours earlier, Naples said.

Benson was arrested a short time later.

Arrested after chase

AUSTINTOWN

Police arrested a township woman after leading them on a car chase early Tuesday.

According to a police report, officers closed northbound traffic from Ashley Circle to state Route 46 because of an accident. Cary Gurley, 37, of Atlanta Avenue, tried to drive between police cars through the accident scene multiple times.

Reports said when officers told her the roadway was closed, Gurley backed up and drove through the scene, ignoring officers orders to stop. After officers caught her, they found Gurley had a suspended license. She is charged with fleeing and eluding and driving with a suspended license. She also was cited for speeding and driving left of center.

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