METRO DIGEST || MetroParks parking lots closed

Britt set for hearing

LIBERTY

Mark D. Britt Jr. of Youngstown is scheduled for video arraignment today in Girard Municipal Court on charges of felonious assault and having weapons under disability.

Britt, 42, surrendered to Liberty police Tuesday in a shooting Saturday at the Monticello Apartments. A man, 35, was shot in the ankle, police said.

Child-porn case

YOUNGSTOWN

Bond for a man arrested last week while police tried to serve a search warrant as part of a child-pornography investigation was increased Tuesday from $16,500 to $47,500 by municipal Judge Renee DiSalvo after police presented new information that was not available when the judge arraigned Nicholas Yukon, 29, on Friday.

He was charged with tampering with evidence, possession of criminal tools, pandering obscenity and obstructing justice. Police did not say what the new evidence is.

Yukon was arrested July 17 at a South Hazelwood Avenue home after he refused to allow police and Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force members inside to serve a warrant.

He is in the Mahoning County jail and could face additional charges, depending on the results of the search warrant.

Thrown from vehicle

BOARDMAN

Township police arrested a Youngstown man Monday on two charges of domestic violence after his girlfriend said he threw her from a vehicle Thursday and tried to rape her, reports say. The victim told police Jermaine Bunn, 22, grabbed her genitals and threatened her with a gun to have sex with him. She said she tried to get out of the moving vehicle, but Bunn grabbed her arm and would not let her exit, but then pushed her from the car.

His pretrial hearing is set for 4 p.m. Aug. 15.

Child-sex charges

YOUNGSTOWN

A Beloit woman who is the co-defendant in a child-sex case agreed Tuesday to plead guilty to child endangering and will be sentenced in September. Her co-defendant, Shawn Unger, 35, requested a jury trial, which Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge R. Scott Krichbaum set for the last week of August.

Unger pleaded guilty in 2011 to raping a 5-year-old girl and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Police allege he raped another child the day he was released, and he’s back in state prison for violating his parole. Unger faces new felony counts, including two counts of rape and three counts of gross sexual imposition.

Firearm charges

YOUNGSTOWN

A Miltonia Avenue man is in the Mahoning County jail after reports said police found a .40-caliber handgun in a vehicle he was driving Monday. Tyjuan Jones, 18, is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in municipal court on charges of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

He was pulled over about 7 p.m. at Albert Street and McGuffey Road on the East Side after police chased him while investigating a gunfire call on the South Side.

The gun was found on the floor of the driver’s side, and the magazine was found in the back seat, reports said.

YSU parking lot closed

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State University’s M-70 parking lot is closed until Aug. 1.

Work is being done to improve the lighting in the lot and improve campus safety. At the same time, trenching will be done through the lot in order to get power and internet lines to the new campus tennis center.

The M-72 parking lot on Ford Avenue and the M-60 parking garage on Fifth Avenue will provide alternate parking.

Shootings investigated

WARREN

After a Sunday that included two women having gunshot damage to their cars from unknown assailants, two males suffered gunshot wounds Monday and Tuesday in the city.

A 24-year-old city man suffered two gunshots to the thigh, two to the knee and one to the groin and was taken to Trumbull Regional Medical Center for treatment Tuesday morning.

When police arrived at an apartment complex on Southern Boulevard Northwest for a 5:39 a.m. call, someone had wrapped a rag around one of the victim’s legs above the knee.

Two shell casings were found in the building, and two were found outside the building.

At 6:12 p.m. Monday, police were called to St. Joseph Warren Hospital for a 23-year-old city man who suffered a gunshot wound while walking on Swallow Street Northwest.

The victim said he only remembered hearing a gunshot and realized he had been shot.

MetroParks sealing

YOUNGSTOWN

Multiple parking lots and asphalt surfaces throughout Mill Creek Park will be temporarily closed for the MetroParks’ annual asphalt sealing and preventive maintenance project.

The work begins today and will continue for several days. Lots will be closed for several days and will reopen once vehicular traffic is permitted.

Some of the prominent lots and surfaces scheduled for work include Birch Hill Cabin, Newport Wetlands-North, Bears Den Cabin, Bears Den Meadow, Bears Den Drive-Picnic, Wick Recreation Area-Ballfield Trail and Lower Slippery Rock.

While the lots are closed, the facilities they support will remain open and accessible for public use.

Public input sought about reservoirs

BERLIN CENTER

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District will host a public meeting from 4:30 to 7 p.m. today at Western Reserve High School, 13850 W. Akron-Canfield Road, to collect community input regarding its Mahoning River Basin water-management study.

The study will look at operations of Mosquito Creek, Michael J. Kirwan and Berlin reservoirs.