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CHAMPION -- Five young men from Champion were arraigned in Warren Municipal Court on one fourth-degree felony criminal charge each last week after an investigation by the Champion Police Department revealed each man's involvement in the vandalism at the Cranberry Hills Golf Course on Clover Crest Drive.
Of the five, four are 18 years old and one is 19.
The owner of the course provided the police department with a breakdown of the damages to the golf course, totaling $41,858, including $15,755 to seven golf carts and $26,103 to the grass on the No. 4 golf hole.
Bond was set for each man. Most appear to have posted bond and were released from the Trumbull County jail. Each of the five returns this week to Warren Municipal Court for a preliminary hearing, where a judge will determine whether there is probable cause that a crime was committed and the individual charged committed it.
If so, his case will be bound over to a Trumbull County grand jury for possible indictment. If convicted of the charge, each man could get up to 18 months in prison.
Cases against a juvenile 16 years old and one 15 years old are apparently being handled in Trumbull County Juvenile Court. The names and addresses of the two juveniles were not provided in a Champion police report.
The five men whose cases are being handled in adult court are Joshua Meese, 18, of Aspen Drive; Colton Alford, 18, of Center Street West; Brady Bell, 18, of Pleasant Street; Colton Sharpe, 18, of Atwood Street; and Camren J. Corrigan, 19, of Eldon Drive.
On July 29, the owner of the golf course told police that someone had taken golf arts out of the shed where they are stored and took them out onto the golf course.
The golf carts and the green on the 4th hole were damaged and/or destroyed. The owner took the officer on a golf cart to show the officer where the golf carts were left -- one in high grass by a pond; one on a hill with a dead battery; two carts along a cart path in the grass, one of which had a blue shirt in the back basket; two near Hole 4.
All of the carts had significant damage, including flat tires, bumpers damaged or ripped off, fenders cracked and broken off, seats torn and broken. He said the carts had been put away at about 9:30 the previous night.
Later that day, the owner provided police with a receipt he found near one of the carts. It was from the WingStop on U.S. Route 422. It was time stamped at 10:30 p.m. July 28, 2026, with a name of the person making the order -- Josh.
Champion police were able to obtain surveillance video from the restaurant and showed it to a Champion Local Schools resource officer, who identified Joshua Meese and Colton Alford.
An officer spoke with Meese Aug. 3 at the Champion Police Department, and Meese admitted he went to the golf course July 29 while staying overnight with Alford. They went to the homes of two friends in Champion. They decided to go to the golf course to "hang out," getting there at about 12:30 a.m. The report states that the officer was told that a juvenile, 15, did most of the damages by "drifting" on a golf cart, running over a flag pole, ramming into everyone else's golf cart and driving the golf cart on the putting green. He named all of the people who were driving golf carts, including himself.
He said the juvenile had bragged about damaging the golf course that day and previous times.
Bell told police that he used a phone app that tracked Meese's location and saw that he was at the golf course July 29, so he went there.
Sharpe told police he also saw that people were on the golf course that night so he went there also. When police spoke with Corrigan, he said he and others had gone to the golf course July 19 and did some damage. He said on July 29, he received a SnapChat video of people on the golf course causing damage.
The report mentions that a person living in Champion whose name was blacked out in the report spoke with police and said what happened at the golf course "wasn't his idea."