Child-porn sentence

Child-porn sentence

LISBON

A local photographer who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography and advertising for performers to rape children on-camera was sentenced Tuesday to more than 15 years behind bars.

David C. Grunden, 34, was federally indicted in January, accused of soliciting online bulletin boards between January 2018 and June 2018 with messages like: “I love beating the life out of children. Gives me such a sexual rush. Even better when their parents are watching in horror,” according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.

An October 2018 search warrant at Grunden’s Lisbon home uncovered more than 7,500 images of child pornography, some of which included victims as young as 5 years old.

“Real children had their lives destroyed, and this defendant was actively soliciting people to subject more children to torture. The community is safer with this man behind bars,” U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said.

Arrests in break-ins

BOARDMAN

Police arrested two people in connection with a spate of car break-ins at West Boulevard apartments July 16, according to reports.

Robert Fertig, 24, of Youngstown, and Kayla Guerriero Harvey, 23, of Poland, were arrested Monday on charges of theft. Fertig and Guerriero Harvey are accused of stealing from multiple vehicles parked at the apartment complex.

Gunfire leads to charges

BOARDMAN

A township man appeared in Mahoning County Area Court on Tuesday on charges of using weapons while intoxicated and inducing panic.

Police responded to multiple sounds of gunfire Friday night on Stadler Avenue.

At the same time, Youngstown police informed Boardman police a man threatened to kill himself with an AR-15 rifle near this location.

When police arrived, Jacob Morgan, 30, of Boardman was sitting holding a beer next to several holes in the ground that were still smoking. Police noted he appeared to be intoxicated.

Morgan was determined to be a threat to himself and others and police transported him to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

He has a pretrial set for Aug. 20 before Judge Joseph M. Houser.

Trumbull Transit pay cut

NILES

The board of directors of Trumbull Transit on Tuesday accepted a proposal from Michael Verich, the organization’s lobbyist and mobility manager, to cut his salary in half – from $3,000 per month to $1,500 – as part of the board’s current cost-cutting process. Trumbull Transit is the county’s public transportation service.

After approving the pay cut, the board approved new levels of service for Trumbull Transit, decreasing the amount of service it can provide on Sundays by about half. Smaller reductions will occur other days of the week.

The transit service had a public hearing last month to receive input on the best ways to make service cuts after the county commissioners moved some of the county senior levy funds away from the transit board and used them for rides exclusively for senior citizens.

Liberty board to meet

LIBERTY

The Liberty school board will have a special meeting at 3:30 p.m. today in the conference room, 4115 Shady Road.

Register for Head Start

YOUNGSTOWN

Children from birth to age 5 can have fun while their parents are registering them for Alta Head Start’s 2019-20 school year at the Children in Motion event from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Covelli Centre, downtown Youngstown.

There will be a variety of activities for kids including games, face painting, mechanical animal rides, the Pop-Up Library and emergency service vehicles. Several community service agencies will have tables at the event, with information on resources parents can take advantage of. Refreshments will also be available.

To enroll their children in Head Start, parents must bring proof of their child’s birth, residency in Mahoning County and income.

Alta Head Start operates from 10 learning centers and two partnership locations in Mahoning County. Children from birth to 3 are served by Alta Early Head Start and Alta Head Start is for children 3 to 5.

North Park Avenue open

BLOOMFIELD

The Trumbull County Engineer has announced that North Park Avenue is open. It had been closed earlier this month for a culvert replacement.

Over 235K voters may be purged from voter rolls

COLUMBUS (AP)

County boards of elections have mailed last-chance notices to more than 235,000 Ohioans who could be purged from state voter rolls.

Ohioans can respond to those notices or go to voteohio.gov to update their voter information.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose directed the county boards in June to submit a list of inactive voters to his office and send notices to those voters that their registration could be canceled Sept. 6.

Ohio law requires elections officials to remove voters from the rolls if they haven’t voted during a six-year span nor responded to the mailed last-chance notice.