METRO DIGEST || Facebook account cloned, owner scammed

Cloned Facebook

AUSTINTOWN

Police responded to a call Monday from an Austintown woman who reportedly exchanged iTunes gift cards to have a cloned Facebook account deactivated.

The woman, 68, discovered someone had cloned her Facebook account, and reportedly purchased $500 in iTunes gift cards to exchange with someone posing as an employee from the social network. The woman reportedly found a phone number on the cloned account, and presumed it lead to Facebook technical support. She reportedly determined after the transaction that Facebook will deactivate cloned accounts for free.

Miracle Meals

BOARDMAN

Today, from 11 a.m. to midnight, Buffalo Wild Wings locations in Boardman, 7401 Market St.; Niles, 950 Great East Plaza; and Austintown, 6000 Mahoning Ave., are hosting Miracle Meals fundraising events to benefit Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley.

When the event flier, found at akronchildrens.org/events, is presented by patrons, 15 percent of total food sales will be donated to the hospital. Patrons may present either a printout of the flier or show it on their mobile device. All funds raised stay in the Mahoning Valley to benefit local children.

Miracle Meals fundraising events are being conducted at local restaurants throughout the summer to benefit the upcoming Miracles and Promises Radiothon set for Sept. 28-29 at the Beeghly campus in Boardman.

Weather damage

YOUNGSTOWN

Sporadic high-wind gusts and heavy rain scattered around the Mahoning Valley on Tuesday brought a tree down across Park Avenue in McDonald and damaged a transformer in the 100 block of Wrenfield Drive in Hubbard, causing power outages in that city. Also, wires were reported downed at Poland Manor. Columbiana County, reportedly hit harder than the rest of the Valley, had only 17 customers without power as of 10:45 p.m. when Trumbull and Mahoning counties had fewer than five outages each.

Searches find drugs

YOUNGSTOWN

Police serving search warrants about 5:30 p.m. Monday investigating drug activity at two homes on East Avondale Avenue found a gun in one home and drugs in another.

At 137 E. Avondale, police found a. 25-caliber handgun and a suspected marijuana cigar. Cited for possession of marijuana was Tanya Manigault, 41, who lists the home as her address.

At 146 E. Avondale, police found a bag of suspected crack cocaine and $620 cash in the pocket of Dawan Williams, 31, who lists the home as his address. Inside the home police found fentanyl, three pills and three scales. Williams was arrested on drug charges. Brittany Fitzgerald, 30, was taken into custody on a warrant.

Spagnola pleads guilty

YOUNGSTOWN

A Warren man pleaded guilty Monday in the U.S. Northern District Court Of Ohio to a count of being a felon in illegal possession of a firearm. Sentencing will be in October for Duane Spagnola, 30, who was found to have a .357 Magnum revolver on him Feb. 21. Court records show Spagnola has a 2014 conviction from Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court that prohibits him from having a firearm.

Filing for re-election

BOARDMAN

Township trustees Brad Calhoun and Tom Costello today will file paperwork at Mahoning County Board of Elections to seek re-election in November. Calhoun first was elected to the board in 2009. Costello served from December 1999 through 2005 and was again elected in 2009.

Habitat walls to go up

BOARDMAN

Habitat for Humanity of Mahoning Valley today will raise walls for its 139th house in the Valley, being built at 82 Erskine Ave. for Angel Thompson and her two young children. Funds for the project were raised primarily by Youngstown Columbiana Association of Realtors. To learn about volunteering at a Habitat build, call 330-743-7244, ext. 304 or visit www.HabitatMahoning.org/volunteer/construction.

Injection-well protest

BROOKFIELD

Concerned citizens will have a rally at 5:45 p.m. Thursday at Brookfield Center green to protest two proposed fracking waste-injection wells in the township. Participants plan to write letters to state officials objecting to the drilling permits.

Haynes South closing

VERNON

Haynes South Road will be closed for culvert replacement effective from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. today. The recommended detour route is west on state Route 88 and northeast on state Route 5.

Checkpoint charges

AUSTINTOWN

Two checkpoints here Friday night and early Saturday morning led to one felony arrest for identity theft, as well as multiple lower-level summonses.

The Mahoning County OVI Task Force, in collaboration with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, conducted the checkpoints at Mahoning Avenue and Canfield-Niles Road.

A total of 898 vehicles passed through and netted one OVI arrest, three summonses for drug abuse and one summons each for falsification, speeding, driving without a license and possession of drug paraphernalia and a citation for expired license plates.