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Struthers man pays for more than a meal

WARREN — A Niles restaurant will get its $32 for a meal a man was convicted of paying for last summer with a stolen credit card.

Dennis Hays, 28, of 265 Maplewood Ave., appeared Monday morning before Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Peter Kontos Jr. to plead guilty to a charge of receiving stolen property. Kontos, in following a plea agreement Hays’ attorney Brendan Keating reached with prosecutors, sentenced Hays to six months in prison.

According to Trumbull County assistant Prosecutor Charles Morrow, Hays was arrested July 6 by Niles police officers after allegedly trying to pay for a meal at the High Pointe Restaurant & Tavern, 754 Youngstown Warren Road, with a credit card stolen from a woman.

Kontos ordered Hays to pay $32 restitution to the restaurant.

This isn’t the first run-in with a local restaurant for Hays this year.

Social media reports and a choice of clothing helped lead Warren police on June 11 to arrest Hays after he was accused of stealing a waitresses’ tip at the Sunrise Inn. The investigation began, reports say, after a picture posted on social media showed a man taking a $10 tip meant for a Sunrise server. The picture showed the man wearing a shirt with a clown face on the front.

The next morning, a Warren police officer spotted a man wearing that same shirt on Warren Boulevard SE. That man was later identified as Hays, whom police said confessed to taking the money.

Hays pleaded no contest to a charge of petty theft, with a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia dismissed, Aug. 15 in Warren Municipal Court. Judge Thomas P. Gysegem sentenced Hays to the seven days in jail that he served and placed him on two-year probation. The judge also ordered Hays not to have contact with the victim in the case, court records show.

Court records also show Hays was charged June 20 with breaking and entering an unoccupied structure in Warren. Hays on Oct. 3 pleaded not guilty to charges in that case, which includes a felony theft charge. Records show that Hays will appear again Nov. 21 before Judge Ronald J. Rice.

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