Infant found dead

Infant found dead

NEWS SPRINGFIELD

The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Mahoning County Coroner’s Office are assisting township police after an infant was found dead Sunday in a home on Struthers Road.

Police Chief Matt Mohn said officers who were assisting an ambulance on a call at the home alerted investigators about the infant. Police were called about 8 a.m. by the ambulance crew because the infant’s mother, a 32-year-old woman, was bleeding heavily, Mohn said.

Mohn said the blood came from the woman giving birth.

Mohn said late Monday afternoon the case is under investigation and any findings will be turned over to the county prosecutor’s office.

Not-guilty plea

WARREN

Kiana C. McCray, 23, of South Feederle Drive Southeast, pleaded not guilty Monday in Warren Municipal Court to child endangering after police said her children, age 5 and 7, went to a neighbor’s house Saturday about noon seeking food because they were hungry.

A neighbor said the children had been alone more than two hours, though McCray told police she was gone only 10 minutes. A police officer said he had been with the children more than 30 minutes before McCray returned, and the 911 call about the children had been pending about 15 minutes before he arrived.

When officers went into the apartment on South Feederle where McCray and the children live, they saw the home was in deplorable condition, a police report says.

Children Services placed the children with their grandmother, and McCray was taken to jail.

Sentenced to 2 years

WARREN

Amber L. Finney, 35, of Ward Avenue Northwest, the first person convicted under the city’s bestiality law in 2017, was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for robbing a Warren bank this past winter.

Police said Finney entered the Chase Bank on West Market Street on Feb. 20 with a hooded sweatshirt covering her face and handed a teller a note. The teller gave Finney $1,000. Finney took the money and left, meeting a male standing at the corner of the bank parking lot, and the two fled. Police followed footprints that led to the front porch of 1125 Ward St. where Finney was arrested.

Finney was convicted of bestiality in 2017 in Warren Municipal Court after police saw a video on the internet showing her having sex with a dog. She spent 60 days in jail.

Arrest warrant issued

YOUNGSTOWN

Police have issued an arrest warrant for Andre Earvin, 31, charging him with robbing a McCartney Road bank Thursday.

Earvin of Youngstown, is charged with the aggravated robbery of the Home Savings Bank’s East Side branch about 11 a.m.

Witnesses said a man came in with a note demanding money, got some cash and ran away.

Police were able to identify Earvin through surveillance photos.

Award presentation

YOUNGSTOWN

Dr. Dinah Fedyna and the Mercy Health Foundation will present the inaugural Dinah Fedyna Family Medicine Award for Primary Care at 2 p.m. today at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

The scholarship will be presented to a Mahoning Valley student studying to become a family practitioner at NEOMED.

The scholarship was established in honor of Dr. Fedyna after she was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, in July 2018 and resigned from her positions at Mercy Health and NEOMED.

Teen hit by car

BOARDMAN

A teen pedestrian was hit by a car Sunday night on Southern Boulevard, said police Chief Todd Werth.

Werth said the victim was riding a bike between two cars when he was hit. Witnesses confirmed the victim crossed between two vehicles, and the driver was going through a green light.

There is no word yet on the condition of the victim or whether charges will be filed against the driver.

Officials to meet today

WARREN

The Trumbull County commissioners will have an 11 a.m. meeting today at their offices to discuss a possibly more efficient way to enforce building codes.

The commissioners will discuss with Mike Sliwinski, chief building inspector, and local drone operator Bob Jadloski the idea of using drones to inspect for violations.

The county created a new nonunion, code-enforcement position in the building department in March 2018 and hired former building inspector Nick Massacci for the job.

Fuda said businesses are finding more efficient ways to operate using fewer people and greater technology, “and we need to do that, too.”

Fire damages garage

Mineral ridge

The detached garage for a home at 2520 Chestnut St. was damaged in a 9:39 a.m. fire Monday, the Trumbull County 911 Center said.

A woman who called 911 said she saw a car inside the garage but no one around. She then alerted the homeowner to the fire. He wanted to get into the garage to remove his truck but thought better of it, she told The Vindicator by telephone.

The woman said she was on a break from her job a few streets away when she smelled and saw the smoke, so she got in her car and drove in that direction until she found the fire.

When she returned to work, the garage and its contents appeared to have sustained a lot of damage, she said.

Sentence upheld

WARREN

The 11th District Court of Appeals has upheld the April 2018 conviction and life prison sentence for Shawn Hope in the Dec. 2, 2016, murder of John P. Keller, 42, of Niles in a home on Stephens Avenue Northwest.

Hope, 52, was also convicted of kidnapping Keller’s financee, stealing her van and kidnapping a second woman, who he took back to his hometown of Detroit.

Surveillance video from inside Rocky’s AM/PM Mini Mart, a West Market Street gas station, showed Hope and one of the kidnapping victims shortly after the killing.

Keller’s fiancee escaped from the van while the two were in the store and got help.

Hope, who was also known as Shawn Johnson, will be eligible for parole after serving 44 years.

Robbed at gunpoint

WARREN

A woman, 25, of Blair Avenue Northweset, reported two males about 19 years old approached her as she sat on her front porch at 10:58 p.m. Sunday and robbed her at gunpoint of her cellphone and jewelry valued at $3,500.

Bond increased

WARREN

Bond was increased to $250,000 Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court when Joseph L. Myers, 31, pleaded not guilty to murder and other offenses in the April 11 traffic crash that killed another motorist on West Market Street.

Myers, of various addresses in Warren, Leavittsburg and Pennsylvania, could get a life prison sentenced if convicted of murder in the death of Anthony J. Blackwell, 34, of North Park Avenue.

A county grand jury last week also indicted Myers on these charges – involuntary manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, four counts of felonious assault, three counts of aggravated vehicular assault, one of failure to comply with the orders of a police officer and one of felony assault in the crash, which followed a short police chase.

5 take oath of office

WARREN

Five men took the oath of office Monday to become Warren firefighters, bringing the department to the 65, the number called for per the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security gave the department a six-month extension through Aug. 19 to use the remainder of the $2.4 million grant and may need an additional six months after that, fire Chief Ken Nussle said.

The grant pays the salary and benefits for 12 to 15 firefighters for two years.

The new firefighters are Dustin Beuchene of Warren, Daniel Lallitto of Burton, Gabrial Deuble of Champion, Adam Charles of Girard, and Grandon Good Sr., of Salem.

Warren man charged

WARREN

Police charged Wayne M. Roper, 55, of Milton Street Southeast with using weapons while intoxicated after police were called to his home at 2:50 a.m. Saturday about him firing a gun and fighting with people.

When officers arrived, they positioned themselves near the house. Roper’s sister arrived and spoke with Roper, getting him to come out and allow himself to be arrested.

Police later learned Roper had been drinking.

They found a shotgun in the house and two shotgun shells in front of the house.

Roper did not appear for his arraignment Monday, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Grandfather pleads

WARREN

Walter L. Gregory, 63, of Willard Avenue Southeast, pleaded not guilty Monday to child endangering after his three grandsons were seen walking alone Saturday morning on the sidewalk near his house.

Gregory said he took medication Friday night and wasn’t able to wake up Saturday morning.

Police said the boys were alone about 20 minutes. One of the boys was 2 and others were 4-year-old twins.

Police spotted the boys and asked them where they lived, but they were unable to tell officers. A neighbor told officers where the boys lived. Trumbull County Children Services was notified.

Occupants escape fire

CAMPBELL

Fire investigators in Campbell suspect a homemade incendiary bomb called a Molotov cocktail was used during an arson in the 50 block of Morley Avenue early Monday morning.

A so-called cocktail is made from bottles and flammable liquids.

The occupants of the house were asleep at the time but managed to escape without injury. Firefighters responding to the blaze reported finding the cocktail and a gas can in the vicinity of the home.

East Side shootings

YOUNGSTOWN

Police are investigating after two people were wounded over the weekend in separate shootings on the East Side.

About 12:20 a.m. Sunday, a man who was riding in an SUV at Victor and Buckeye avenues was wounded in the arm after someone fired a shot that shattered the SUV’s back window.

About 10:55 p.m Friday, a man at Rigby and South Jackson streets was wounded in the thigh after someone fired several shots. Police said that victim has not been cooperative.

Both men were treated at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

Taken from driveway

ELLSWORTH

A South Duck Creek man claims someone stole his Dodge Ram truck from his driveway with a tow truck.

The felony theft was reported Thursday, according to a Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office report.

A neighbor told deputies he witnessed the blue pickup truck towing the Ram truck away about 2 p.m. Thursday, but assumed the man had sold it.