METRO DIGEST || Bell convicted of robbery

Convicted of robbery

YOUNGSTOWN

A jury has convicted a 20-year-old Broadway man of robbery and aggravated robbery, but acquitted him of the attached firearm specifications, in a March 25, 2015, attack on a 73-year-old man, who was walking in Roosevelt Park in Campbell.

Rashan T. Bell received the verdict Monday after a trial that began May 9 before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Bell hit the victim on the head with a solid object, punched and kicked him after he fell to the ground and stole his wallet, Michael Rich, an assistant county prosecutor, told the jury.

Bell, who remains jailed pending sentencing, faces three to 11 years in prison.

Power knocked out

Problems with a transformer at a First Energy substation in Austintown knocked out power to about 10,000 customers at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday – 6,000 in Austintown and 4,000 in Youngstown.

According to First Energy spokesman Mark Durbin, a couple of switches were reset and power was restored by 6 p.m. The First Energy website said fewer than eight people were still without power near 7 p.m.

Taxi driver stabbed

YOUNGSTOWN

A taxi driver remains in stable condition in St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital after he was stabbed in the stomach at about 11:10 p.m. Monday.

Reports said officers were called to a home in the 2700 block of Gibson Avenue on the South Side, where the 33-year-old driver told them he picked up two men and a woman at a home in the 1300 block of Ivanhoe Avenue.

When the driver told them he needed the fare up front, the woman stabbed him in the stomach and the man pulled a gun, reports said. They then ran away.

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