Pride Center picnic
Pride Center picnic
youngstown
There will be a free picnic at The Pride Center, 1523 Poland Ave., at 5 p.m. today. Food and drink will be provided by the center. Attendees will be encouraged to join or renew their membership, but all are welcome. Some lawn furniture is available.
Prepping for school
WARREN
Second Baptist Church “A House of Hope” at 1510 Main Ave. SW will host “Back to School Sunday” at 10:15 a.m. Sunday. Students, parents, teachers, coaches and administrators from Warren City Schools and other local school districts are invited to join in a service of worship in preparation for the 2017-18 school year. The Youth Ministry of Second Baptist will be leading worship, and a special message will be shared by the Rev. Todd Johnson.
120-day sentence
CHARDON
Maridee Constanzo, a former Warren attorney who spent eight years in prison for trying to hire a hit man to kill her estranged husband, began serving a 120-day jail sentence in the Geauga County jail Thursday.
Costanzo, 59, of Genesee Avenue Northeast in Warren, was sentenced to the 120 days Thursday after pleading guilty last week in a Geauga County theft ring.
Costanzo pleaded guilty in Geauga County Common Pleas Court last week to receiving stolen property. She could have gotten up to a year in prison.
In addition to her jail term, Costanzo will serve two years’ probation and must complete a jail treatment program for substance abuse.
Costanzo was among four people arrested in connection with the theft of more than $100,000 in antiques and historic artifacts from a Geauga County home.
Warren man’s trial
CLEVElAND
A Warren man accused of stealing $82,000 in government funds has a trial date of Sept. 18.
Dean Nikolaides, 63, of Shadowood Lane was indicted by a federal grand jury in June on charges of taking about $82,000 in pension benefits from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., an independent agency of the U.S. government. The offenses occurred over 14 years from June 2003 to June 2017, according to the indictment.
Judge Donald C. Nugent of the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, will hear the case in Cleveland.
Spitting charge
STRUTHERS
Another preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 30 in the case of a woman accused of spitting on police during a call for mental-health assistance.
Jykeera Jones, 20, of Akron appeared Friday in Struthers Municipal Court on charges of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, and harassment by forcing an officer to come into contact with a bodily substance, a felony.
A judge continued her $4,500 bond.
Struthers police responded Aug. 4 to a home on East Midlothian Boulevard for an apparent suicide attempt by Jones, who tried to run away when police and rescue personnel arrived. Officers reported they tried to restrain her by strapping her down onto a cot when she spat at two police officers. Jones pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges during her arraignment Aug. 11.
OVI checkpoints
CANFIELD
The Mahoning County OVI Task Force said two sobriety checkpoints will take place in Mahoning County today and Sunday. Specific details will be announced at a later time.