METRO DIGEST || More interested in Niles mayor post

More interested in Niles mayor post

WARREN

Niles Councilman Barry Profato, who ran for Niles mayor as a write-in and lost to Thomas Scarnecchia in the general election in 2015, has formally entered the race for Niles mayor.

Profato turned in a letter of interest to the Trumbull County Democratic Party Tuesday. Scarnecchia retired last week.

Meanwhile, Niles Safety Director George Kaniclides has told Trumbull County Democratic Party Chairman Dan Polivka he is interested in being appointed to serve the last 18 months of Scarneccia’s term, but he has not yet turned in his letter of interest, Polivka said late Wednesday.

Kaniclides was a Niles police officer for 35 years and later worked in the sheriff’s office.

The other candidate is painting contractor Stephen Hrosar.

Polivka said there are two or three other people also interested in the appointment. The deadline to apply is 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Prostitution charge

AUSTINTOWN

Police charged Ken Frease, 80, with permitting drug abuse and promoting prostitution after he called them complaining a prostitute refused to leave his home Tuesday, according to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

Frease told police he picked up Ama Dodson, 33, because she agreed to perform a sex act on him if he gave her $10 and allowed her to do her laundry at his Austintown house. On the way to his house, Frease told police they stopped at a Youngstown house for Dodson to buy what appeared to be crack, which she smoked at his home.

Dodson is charged with prostitution and possessing drug paraphernalia and drug-abuse instruments. She also was charged with escape after she left St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital early, where she was being evaluated since Frease told police she had passed out on his floor.

Robbery reported

WARREN

A 21-year-old city man told police he was robbed at gunpoint on Milton Street Southeast at 2:17 a.m. Wednesday by a male he knew from high school.

The victim said the male contacted him and asked for a ride. The victim drove to an address on Woodland Avenue and picked up the male and another man he didn’t know and took them to Milton Street, where they sat with the car off a short time.

When the victim said he needed to go home, the unidentified man pulled out a gun and demanded the victim’s money and other items, reports said.

The victim handed over $5, a cellphone and car keys. Both males got out of the car, and the one with the gun fired it into the air. The victim ran home, reports said.

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