Woman faces charge of making false alarm

Woman faces charge of making false alarm

BOARDMAN

A Youngstown woman faces a criminal charge after police said she reported a crime that didn’t happen.

Lisa Ross, 18, of West Boston Avenue is charged with making false alarms. Ross reportedly called 911 Sunday to report being abducted at gunpoint and threatened with rape by a group of men who dragged her into a vehicle.

Ross later admitted that her story was false, and had met one of the men online and agreed to hang out with him. After the man took her to an apartment on West Boulevard, he and two other men reportedly tried to get her to engage in group sex, which she declined.

Ross told police she “called 911 because she did not know where she was at and was angry with the males for kicking her out.”

Store is robbed twice

WARREN

The Family Dollar, 1840 Elm Road NE, was robbed Sunday morning and Monday afternoon, and a city man is charged in the Monday crime.

A Warren police report says there was an armed robbery at 9 a.m. Sunday involving $200 in cash, but it doesn’t say what type of weapon was used or give details into what happened.

At 1:04 p.m. Monday, police chased Christopher S. Stercula, 28, of Elm Road through neighborhoods north of downtown.

An officer said residents of Washington Street Northeast pointed to a house where a fleeing suspect had gone. A citizen grabbed Stercola and pinned him against the wall of a garage, police said.

Police found a hooded sweatshirt Stercola had been wearing and car air fresheners valued at $37 nearby that were reported stolen from the store.

Stercula is charged with petty theft and obstructing official business. He will be arraigned today in municipal court.

Jury is being selected

YOUNGSTOWN

Jury selection is underway in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for a man accused of an October 2013 murder.

David Hackett, 54, is acting as his own lawyer before Judge John Durkin. He faces charges of aggravated murder, rape and kidnapping in the death of Collena Carpenter, 30, of Homeworth in Columbiana County. She was found Oct. 13, 2013, by an access road near West Avenue stabbed several times.

Hackett also served prison time for a murder he was convicted of in 1979. At one time, he faced the death penalty in Carpenter’s death but prosecutors dismissed death-penalty specifications last year.

Car hits semi, flips over

LIBERTY

A car flipped over after striking a tractor-trailer about 7:20 p.m. Tuesday. The crash occurred at state Route 193 in the township.

Officers issued a citation to the truck’s driver, David Dunn, 48, of Salamanca, N.Y., for failure to yield while making a left turn.

The car’s driver, a 22-year-old Girard resident, suffered minor injuries.

Route 193 (Belmont Avenue) northbound was closed for about an hour after the collision.