Canfield doctor pleads not guilty

Canfield doctor pleads not guilty

YOUNGSTOWN

A Canfield doctor accused of exposing himself at a bus stop for schoolchildren pleaded not guilty Friday during his arraignment in municipal court.

Robert Brocker Jr., 64, has a June 28 pretrial hearing before Judge Carla Baldwin on two misdemeanor counts of public indecency.

Police arrested Dr. Brocker on Thursday morning on the charges after an investigation that began in April. He was booked into the Mahoning County jail but posted bond later in the day. He remains free on bond.

Charged with arson

NEW MIDDLETOWn

Village police Friday charged a 15-year-old female with aggravated arson in a house fire that occurred Wednesday on Main Street.

Officials determined the fire was intentionally set, but police have not released the teen’s motive. No one was hurt in the fire.

The teen is in the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center in Youngstown.

Open house set

BOARDMAN

The finishing touches are being completed at the township’s new main fire station on Market Street and it will open to the public May 29.

An open house and ribbon-cutting is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. that day.

Fire Chief Mark Pitzer said he expects the department to begin operating out of the building June 4.

The station is at the corner of Market and Stadium Drive.

Sports-betting plan

COLUMBUS

State Sen. Joe Schiavoni said he will soon introduce legislation to legalize and regulate sports betting at casinos and racinos in Ohio.

“Since states are now permitted to allow sports betting, Ohio should take advantage of the opportunity to drive revenue growth,” said Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd. “As Republicans in our state keep pushing tax cuts, we have to find other ways to provide adequate funding for our local governments and education, both of which have been woefully underfunded.”

Under Schiavoni’s plan, much of the sports-betting revenue would go to local governments and school districts.

Niles truck driver pleads guilty to fraud

COLUMBUS

A Niles truck driver must pay $12,450 in restitution to the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation after the agency’s investigators found him working again while collecting disability benefits.

Marshall Winn IV pleaded guilty Wednesday to workers’ compensation fraud, a fifth-degree felony, in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

A judge sentenced him to five years of probation and gave him a suspended nine-month prison sentence.

“Mr. Winn was injured in 2014 and claimed he was disabled from work, but we found evidence that he started working again in January 2015 and that he was running his own trucking business,” said Jim Wernecke, director of BWC’s special investigations department.

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