Tribune Chronicle / Guy Vogrin Defendant Rebel Mead, left, stands at the defense table as the jury leaves the courtroom of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge W. Wyatt McKay to begin deliberations. At right is Mead’s defense attorney, Robert Rohrbaugh.

WARREN — A Trumbull County jury will continue deliberations this afternoon in a case against a Pennsylvania man accused of not paying a Hubbard Township man his portion of proceeds after tons of scrap metal was removed from his South Main Street property early in 2014.

Rebel D. Mead, 24, of Linesville, Pa., was being tried this week on two counts of grand theft by deception. The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about an hour on Tuesday afternoon before Common Pleas Court Judge W. Wyatt McKay sent them home for the evening.

If found guilty, Mead could face a maximum of three years in prison.

Mead, operator of an Andover scrap metal dealership, had contracted with Tom and Jacqueline Miller of Hubbard Township in February 2014 to remove tons of old equipment, including eight former WRTA buses and some 60 other used vehicles, from their property. However, the couple claimed they never saw a cent of the money that Mead made from selling the scrap metal to Metalico Youngstown.

Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor Diane Barber called both Millers to the stand in addition to Hubbard Township Detective Michael Begeot.

Tom Miller said he wanted to clear his property of the items because of his ill health. Jacqueline Miller said she drew up a contract on Feb. 11, 2014, with Mead with the Millers to receive $35,000 and Mead to get $5,000 after the land was cleared. Miller said he felt something was amiss because he still holds the title to 76 vehicles that were part of the scrap deal.

In her closing, Barber said the Millers still haven’t received any payment because Mead delivered “one sad story after another.” The Millers also said they gave Mead a $10,000 loan that also was not repaid, Barber said.

Defense attorney Robert Rohrbaugh called two witnesses, including Mead’s friend Jacob Rendulic, who said he saw Mead pay the Millers an advance of $5,000 in cash, in addition to seeing Mead withdraw about $27,000 in cash, put it into a bag, and take it to the Miller’s property.

Barber told the jury, however, Mead couldn’t produce a receipt for the payments.

“He is a businessman and has to account for that payment somewhere, if only for tax purposes,” Barber said.

Another defense witness was Lance Grimes, general manager of Metalico Youngstown, who said he visited the Miller’s property to determine the scope of the project, which included old cars, school buses and boats. Grimes said he paid Mead about $66,000 for the scrap metal taken in the project.

gvogrin@tribtoday.com