METRO DIGEST || Obama commutes sentence of city man

Obama commutes sentence of city man

YOUNGSTOWN

A city man who was sentenced to 300 months in federal prison after being convicted of a drug charge had his sentence commuted Thursday by outgoing President Barack Obama.

Anthony Southard was sentenced in June 2000 after being convicted in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio on charges of possession with intent to distribute approximately 100.3 grams of cocaine base and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug-trafficking crime. His sentence will now expire May 19.

Niles police seeking info about robbery

NILES

Niles police are asking for the public’s help for a second time this month to identify a man who robbed a Niles bank.

A man robbed Chemical Bank on Youngstown Road in front of the Village Center Shopping Center near Marc’s at 12:52 p.m. Friday.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Niles Police Department at 330-652-9944, according to the Niles police Facebook page.

Craig R. Honkonen, 35, of South Cleveland Avenue, is in the Trumbull County jail in lieu of $500,000 bond, charged with the Dec. 22 robbery of the Farmer’s National Bank in downtown Niles.

Honkonen surrendered to police Tuesday after Niles police posted his photo on Facebook.

Dad accused of punching daughter

BOARDMAN

Police arrested a township man Thursday who they accused of punching his 14-year-old daughter.

According to a police report, Robert Boyd, 46, of Boardman, told police he was attempting to discipline his daughter for being disrespectful to her bus driver when she began throwing things.

The victim told police her father had hit her with a closed fist and choked her. A witness provided police with video of the incident.

Boyd was placed under arrest for domestic violence. He will appear Tuesday in Mahoning County Area Court.

Remains identified as crash victims’

CLEVELAND

The recovered remains of three of the six people killed when a plane crashed into Lake Erie off Cleveland last month have been identified, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner said Friday.

Identifications were made for the plane’s pilot, 45-year-old John Fleming of Dublin, Ohio, formerly of Boardman, his 15-year-old son, Jack, and a family friend, 50-year-old Brian Casey of Powell, Ohio.

The other three people on the plane were Fleming’s 46-year-old wife, Suzanne, their 14-year-old son, Andrew, and Casey’s 19-year-old daughter, Megan, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Cleveland officials announced Tuesday that it was ending recovery efforts and said it was unlikely additional remains would be found because of conditions in Lake Erie.

The six were flying back to Columbus after attending a Cleveland Cavaliers game on Dec. 29.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued a preliminary report Thursday night that said John Fleming, a Columbus businessman, had received a certification to fly the Cessna Citation 525 just 21 days before the crash.

Lincoln Knolls watch meeting set

YOUNGSTOWN

The Lincoln Knolls Community Watch will have a community meeting from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday at the East Branch Library located at 430 Early Road. The featured guest is a representative from the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.

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