Texts subpoenaed in teen sex case
CORTLAND - A Cortland man who police said traded thousands of text messages with a 15-year-old girl was arrested this week after they said he also had sexual contact with her.
Robert L. Bates, 37, 2605 Wilson Sharpsville Road, Cortland, was arraigned Wednesday in Central District Court on a charge of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
The investigation began after a complaint was filed with Trumbull County Children Services. Police said they believe the girl, now 16, had consensual sexual contact with Bates five to 10 times since January.
Police subpoenaed nearly 7,000 text messages from the girl's phone, which included messages with Bates to arrange times to call or meet, the police report states.
Bates posted $5,000 bond Wednesday and his charge will be transferred to Eastern District Court, court records state.
Ex-con hires attorney to fight drug charges
WARREN - A 58-year-old former Trumbull County worker hired as part of a second chance program for ex-convicts and now facing drug charges has hired his own attorney.
Rather than being represented by the Public Defender's Office, Kenneth A. Greep hired local attorney Gary Rich.
Greep has pleaded not guilty to trafficking and possession of cocaine after police with the Trumbull Ashtabula Group (TAG) Law Enforcement Task Force raided his Vienna home in March. Greep, 2462 Pleasant Valley, had just completed a period of federal parole after serving a previous federal prison sentence of more than four years for a prior drug conviction.
He had been doing clerical-related work at the Trumbull County Department of Job and Family Services since October.
Letter carriers collect 181,000 pounds of food
WARREN - The National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 385 collected 181,000 pounds of nonperishable food items last weekend as part of the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties.
Diana Kady, food drive coordinator, said residents placed items by their mailboxes last Saturday so mail carriers could pick them up.
Warren city's three post offices collected 43,000 pounds.
Two ATVs snagged in pawn shop break-in
AUSTINTOWN - Someone broke into a Mahoning Avenue pawn shop and stole vehicles, police said.
The manager of Austintown Pawn, 3700 Mahoning Ave., told police Tuesday that someone cut through a chain-link fence and stole two all-terrain vehicles - a Honda TRX 400 EX and a Yamaha Banchi - that had been pawned.
The video surveillance the business normally has in operation was not working at the time of the break-in, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Austintown police at 330-799-9721.
Burn barrel ignited wooden pallet fires
HOWLAND - Fire officials believe the cause of a fire behind a Service Guide Inc. building Monday was a burn barrel.
The fire broke out around 4:30 p.m. Monday and destroyed more than 1,000 pallets at a company and tenant of Service Guide. Fire officials estimate the fire destroyed about $5,000 worth of pallets and caused about $15,000 in damage overall, including to fiber optic electric lines, which came down because of the fire.
Firefighters on the scene Monday had believed the blaze was ignited after a powerline above the pallets snapped.
Service Guide Inc. is located in the Bronze Road/Dietz Road area off of Griswold Street N.E.
Forum exec to discuss negotiations, cutbacks
WARREN - Forum Health President and Chief Executive Officer Walter ''Buzz'' Pishkur is scheduled this morning to answer questions and provide an update about the ongoing reorganization plan for the financially struggling health care system.
Pishkur said earlier this week that he planned to address statements made by members of the hospital system's largest labor union regarding negotiations for concessions and other cost-cutting measures. A statement released by the hospital said these topics will be among the items Pishkur will address with the media.
Forum Health filed for bankruptcy protection March 16.
Downtown Warren mixer scheduled
WARREN - The Downtown Warren Business Association has scheduled its quarterly mixer for 5 to 7 p.m. today at the North Park Avenue Comfort Inn at Courthouse Square.
The discussion will focus on downtown traffic patterns and traffic calming techniques. Scheduled guest speaker is Jim Dalessandro of Main Street Warren.
Business mixers are held quarterly by the organization. For more information or to RSVP, contact Jim Valesky at Valesky@aol.com or 330-507-8831.
Children's Hospital lifts swine flu restrictions
YOUNGSTOWN - Akron Children's Hospital has lifted its restricted visitation policy related to the H1N1 swine flu.
While the numbers of H1N1 flu cases continues to rise, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that most cases are similar to the seasonal flu and do not require hospitalization.
On April 28, Akron Children's put a restricted visitors policy in effect, allowing only parents or primary caregivers to visit patients.
Woman arrested after officer punched
WARREN - A Warren woman was arrested early Wednesday after punching an officer in the right eye, police said.
Dana N. Brown, 23, 1730 Southwest Blvd. S.W., faces a charge of assault in Warren Municipal Court.
Officer Michael Merritt was flagged down about 1:50 a.m. by bar security at the Powerhouse Sports Bar, 999 Mahoning Ave. N.W., police reports state. Merritt saw five to 10 women fighting in the parking lot and throwing bottles against a vehicle.
Merritt started to pull them apart and as he held two at arm's length, Brown punched him in the eye, the report states. Brown was placed against the vehicle, handcuffed and held away from others who were trying to get to her and get her away from officer custody, reports state.
Cafaro to give address to KSU campus grads
ASHTABULA - Ohio Senate Democratic Leader Capri S. Cafaro, D-Hubbard, will be the commencement speaker at the Kent State University Ashtabula Campus at 7 p.m. Friday in the main hall, 3300 Lake Road West.