Jamar Houser faces drug, weapons charges

YOUNGSTOWN — Jamar Houser, 25, of West Delason Avenue, is in the Mahoning County jail on $35,000 bond after being arraigned today in municipal court on drug and weapons charges.

It marks the fourth time since his 2012 release from jail when prosecutors dropped charges he murdered an elderly woman in 2010 in the parking lot of St. Dominic’s Church.

Reports said Houser was a passenger in a car that was pulled for running a red light about 8:30 p.m. Saturday on the South Side. The driver gave police consent to search the car and they found a loaded 9mm pistol near where Houser was sitting along with seven doses of crack cocaine and four doses of heroin.

He faces charges of possession of heroin, possession of cocaine, improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

This is the second time he has faced the later charge.

In the St. Dominic’s case, Houser was released after a palm print at the scene was matched to someone else.