Arrested on drug charge

Arrested on drug charge

AUSTINTOWN

Police arrested a man on a charge of possession of heroin Tuesday, according to a report.

Police stopped a vehicle for making an improper turn from Bears Den Road onto Burkey Road, nearly causing an accident.

Robert McCulley, 53, of Austintown, was operating the vehicle. The officer reportedly smelled alcohol, and McCulley handed him a cup that he said contained Mike’s Hard Lemonade, though he claimed it wasn’t his.

The officer then observed a cigarette box with a cellophane wrapper that contained a bag of suspected heroin, according to the report. McCulley told police “cocaine or heroin” was in the bag and that it wasn’t his.

After being placed under arrest, McCulley told police, “It’s all mine. I snort heroin, and I drank a little,” the report states. He is charged with failure to use a turn signal, open container and drug abuse.

Gun, trafficking arrest

YOUNGSTOWN

Police arrested a man Tuesday afternoon on gun and drug trafficking charges on the West Side.

Keylon White, 23, of First Street, was arraigned Wednesday in municipal court after he was arrested about 2:35 p.m. at Mahoning Avenue and Steel Street.

Reports said police were called to a store at 1821 Mahoning Ave. after a man said he was threatened by someone with a gun. White was spotted by police, and he was wearing clothes that matched the description of the suspect.

When police stopped White, they searched and found a loaded .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol and a small amount of suspected marijuana. Police took him to the Mahoning County jail.

Closed for sewer work

GREENVILLE, PA.

North Main Street is scheduled to be closed at Leech Road here Friday, due to sewer line work, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has announced.

The road is expected to reopen Saturday. A detour will be posted. Access to the UPMC Horizon hospital will be maintained.

Facing weapons charges

WARREN

Three people are charged with carrying concealed weapons Wednesday after police said they “cut off” a Niles man playing Pokemon in Perkins Park at 1:11 a.m. Wednesday, then told him they had guns.

Charged are Shane E. Turner, 20, of Laird Avenue Northeast; Brittany A. Mayle, 21, of Wooster; and Joel J. Taneri, 22, of Weir Road Northeast. Additionally, Turner is charged with felony impersonating a police officer. Not-guilty pleas were entered for them in Warren Municipal Court later Wednesday. Turner remains in jail under $7,500 bond, while Mayle and Taneri were released on $2,500 bond.

The victim said he was “cut off” by people in a sport utility vehicle that drove through the grass near a baseball field. The victim said he asked the three people in the van who they were. The driver said he was undercover Warren police officer.

During a traffic stop, police found three handguns and ammunition in the SUV.

Concerned about wells

WARREN

The Trumbull County commissioners wrote a letter to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources saying they agree with safety concerns expressed by the Brookfield Township trustees for two injection wells proposed for the township.

The letter said the commissioners ask that the ODNR “consider addressing” concerns regarding additional traffic on state Route 7 near the Wyngate Manor mobile home park and the Brookfield Fire Department, “as well as contamination in the nearby coal mines, thus contaminating the water tables.”

ODNR is reviewing a request by Highland Field Services of Pittsburgh to drill two wells near the intersection of Route 7 and Merwin Chase Road.

Injection wells force wastewater from the gas and oil industry deep underground as a means of disposal.

Youth strikes staff, flees

WARREN

A young male fled from the residential unit at Trumbull County Children Services on Reeves Road Northeast on Tuesday night after a staff member said the youth struck him in the head with a crutch and punched him.

The male, whose age and name were not released, broke a double-pane window at the facility with a fire extinguisher, left the building through the broken window, damaged the staff member’s car, then ran away about 8:46 p.m., police said.

He is charged with felonious assault, unruly child, criminal damaging and being a runaway in juvenile court.

The staff member said he first became involved after two female staff members said the youth was confrontational and disrespectful with them.

When the male staff member arrived, the youth punched the staff member in the ribs and shoulder. The male staff member had a lump on the side of his head where the youth hit him with the crutch, police said.

House OKs HB 12

COLUMBUS

The Ohio House approved legislation Wednesday that would designate the barn as the state’s official historical architectural structure.

House Bill 12 passed on a unanimous vote and heads to the Ohio Senate for further consideration.

The bill would comparably honor the barn, which, an analysis by the state’s Legislative Service Commission noted, “is an agricultural building located on farms and used for many purposes.”

Ohio START program

COLUMBUS

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Wednesday the creation of a pilot program that will serve families harmed by parental opioid abuse in more than a dozen southern Ohio counties.

Ohio START is an intervention program that will provide victim services, such as intensive trauma counseling, to children who have suffered victimization due to parental drug use. The program will also provide drug treatment for parents of children referred to the program.

The effectiveness of Ohio START will be studied with the potential to expand it to other counties.

Seeking fracking info

COLUMBUS

A Youngstown firefighter urged state lawmakers Wednesday to require increased disclosure to emergency responders of chemicals used in horizontal hydraulic fracturing.

Sil Caggiano, deputy chief for Mahoning County Hazmat, said a loophole in state law prevents firefighters and others responding to emergencies at fracking sites from accessing complete information about what they’re dealing with.

“We are asking our first-responders to respond to emergencies without key pieces of information to accurately assess the situation and make the best decision possible to help the public,” he said.

Caggiano was one of the featured speakers during a midday news conference at the Statehouse, then offered testimony later as part of budget deliberations in the Ohio House.