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Two arrested with guns at OVI checkpoint
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Two people arraigned on weapons charges Monday in municipal court were pulled over late Friday by officers manning an OVI checkpoint on the South Side.
Reports said officers found a loaded .38-caliber revolver in a car driven by Bria McCall, 20, no address listed, who was diverted to the checkpoint about 11:15 p.m. Saturday on Glenwood Avenue.
McCall was taken to the Mahoning County jail on a charge of carrying concealed weapons and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle. Magistrate Anthony Sertick set her bond Monday at $15,000 during her arraignment in municipal court.
Also arrested about the same time was Jomar Nieves, 26, of Lansdowne Boulevard. Reports said one of the officers working the checkpoint noticed a car Nieves was driving did not have front license plates.
Nieves appeared nervous, and he was taken out of his car after he failed to inform the officers that he had a concealed-carry permit. He told police he had a gun and cocaine in his wallet, and officers found the drugs and a loaded 9 mm handgun. In the back seat, police found an unloaded .20-gauge shotgun and an unloaded handgun.
Sertick set bond for Nieves at $7,500 on a felony charge of possession of cocaine and a misdemeanor charge of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle with a specification he failed to inform law enforcement he has a valid CCW permit.
Also arraigned on gun charges Monday was Kariem Prestley, 23, no address listed, who was pulled over about 4:10 p.m. Friday at West Warren Avenue and Summer Street on the South Side for an improper turn. Reports said he has a suspended license and he told police he had a gun in the car. Officers found a loaded 9 mm handgun, reports said. Sertick set his bond at $25,000 on an improper handling of a motor vehicle charge.
Two people were also arrested late Sunday and early Monday on domestic-violence charges.
About 1:25 a.m. Monday, Jose Luis Rosado Nazario, 38, was arrested at his Hilton Avenue home. Officers were called to a Helena Avenue home on the South Side for a report of a man knocking on car windows and a woman there told them that Nazario was bothering her.
The woman said she was at Nazario’s home on Saturday when Nazario hit her several times after he complained because her child was crying. Reports said her face was swollen, and her lip was cut. Reports also said she was afraid to make a report earlier. Police went to Nazario’s home and arrested him and took him to the Mahoning County jail. Bond information was not available for his case.
About 12:55 a.m. Sunday, police were called to a home in the 200 block of Lora Avenue for a man and woman fighting. The woman was hiding behind some bushes. Reports said the woman told police she was on the porch of the North Side home when Ira Edwards, 64, told her to come inside, and when she did, he punched her, choked her and threw her down the stairs.
Edwards appeared very drunk, reports said, and told police he wanted the woman gone and was angry but did not remember putting his hands on her. The woman had marks on her neck and face, reports said.
Edwards was also arrested and taken to the jail. Although a felony domestic charge was filed against Edwards in municipal court, he was not arraigned Monday.