2/25/2010 - West Side Leader
     

WEST AKRON: Burglaries occurred in the following locations: the 200 block of Twin Oaks Road Feb. 11-12; the 500 block of Diagonal Road Feb. 13-14; the 700 block of Noah Avenue Feb. 14, in which a 19-year-old Alden Avenue male was arrested [see below for more on that arrest]; the 900 block of Whittier Avenue Feb. 15; a business in the 700 block of West Market Street Feb. 16 and again Feb. 20-22; the 700 block of Dorchester Road Feb. 16; the 1000 block of Seward Avenue Feb. 16; the 600 block of Ardleigh Drive Feb. 18; the 900 block of Stadelman Avenue Feb. 19; and the 600 block of Frederick Boulevard Feb. 21.

A 19-year-old Alden Avenue male was charged with felony burglary Feb. 15. The day before, he had allegedly broken into a Noah Avenue residence and stolen a TV, two laptop computers, three game systems and numerous games.

On Feb. 16 around 1 a.m., a 41-year-old Bates Avenue man was arrested in the area of West Market Street and Merriman Road. He allegedly had attempted to break into a business in the 500 block of West Market Street by throwing a chunk of ice at the glass doors several times and also had broken into a car, stealing money. The man was transported to the police station for questioning, where he reportedly became agitated and started fighting with officers. Placed in a holding room, he reportedly damaged a desk and repeatedly banged his head against the wall. He was treated by paramedics at the police station for injuries to his chin and head, and officers then transported him to St. Thomas Hospital for further evaluation. As officers were walking him from the hospital emergency room back to the patrol wagon, he reportedly spit in an officer’s face and eye and yelled that he was HIV positive. The officer was treated at a local hospital. The suspect was charged with breaking and entering, vandalism, resisting arrest, criminal damaging/endangering, theft and harassment by an inmate. He was booked into the Summit County Jail.

Two 18-year-old Westgay Circle males were arrested for criminal mischief and an 18-year-old Medina man was arrested for criminal mischief and obstruction of official business Feb. 18 around 1:40 a.m. after a witness saw them allegedly trying to break into cars. The witness followed the men in their vehicle until police arrived and took them into custody at Delia Avenue and Dawson Road. The Medina man reportedly jumped out of the car to avoid being taken into custody.

Shortly after 1 p.m. Feb. 18, officers responded to a shooting in the 300 block of Noah Avenue. The 25-year-old male victim was shot during a verbal argument with another male. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment, where his injuries did not appear to be life threatening. The shooting remains under investigation.

A 19-year-old Greenwood Avenue male was charged Feb. 19 with felony breaking and entering. He reportedly is on tape stealing money from a candle donation box in a Mull Avenue church Jan. 23.

Around 8:10 a.m. Feb. 22, a 59-year-old Clemmer Street man was arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated after rear-ending a METRO RTA bus in the 1600 block of West Market Street.

BATH: On Feb. 14, police were seeking suspects who stole coats from two students at Revere High School that day and the previous day.

A woman stopped for a traffic violation on Ghent Road Feb. 15 failed a field sobriety test and was charged with DUI. Her BAC tested .186.

Officers responded to an alarm at a North Cleveland-Massillon Road gas station around midnight Feb. 16 and discovered suspects had broken a front window, entered and stolen several cartons of cigarettes.

An Olentangy Drive man reported Feb. 16 he received a check for $4,985 and a letter telling him he won $25,000 in a sweepstakes and instructing him to deposit the check in his bank account and wire $4,780 to the suspect to pay taxes on his winnings. He recognized the correspondence as a scam and turned the information over to police, who are investigating.

A Lake Point Drive woman reported Feb. 17 she has been receiving calls from collection agents attempting to reach a woman who used the victim’s phone number when applying for credit accounts. She said she advised the callers, but they would not stop calling. Police called the suspects and advised them not to contact the victim. The suspect used a fictitious address on the applications and could not be reached.

An Acacia Road man reported a female was trespassing in his backyard Feb. 18, and she had damaged his property. Officers arrived to find the suspect being detained by the victim. Police apprehended the suspect and charged her with criminal trespassing and receiving stolen property after they determined the car she drove to the location had been reported stolen from North Canton. The suspect was taken to the Summit County Jail and the vehicle was released to the owner at the scene.

Police responded to a report of aggravated robbery of a Springside Drive motel Feb. 18, when employees reported a male entered, brandished a pistol and fled with an undetermined amount of money.

Police patrolling Springside Drive Feb. 20 stopped a driver for lane violations. He failed a field sobriety test and was charged with his fifth DUI in a 20-year period. His BAC tested .271. Additional charges were pending the testing of a suspected marijuana cigarette found in the vehicle.

A man reported he was shopping with his 17-year-old daughter in a Montrose store Feb. 20, when they argued and she ran away and could not be located. Police entered information about her in a database for missing juveniles.

COPLEY: Police observed a vehicle that was stuck in a gap between an exit ramp and the highway at the intersection of Ridgewood Road and Interstate 77 around midnight Feb. 12. The driver failed a field sobriety test and was charged with DUI, having a BAC of .226 and possession of a marijuana cigarette and drug pipe that were found in the vehicle during a tow inventory.

On Feb. 12, officers responded to calls from motorists on South Cleveland-Massillon Road regarding a man driving a vehicle with its car alarm sounding. The driver failed a field sobriety test and police charged him with DUI and transported him home.

A driver whose vehicle was stuck in a ditch at the intersection of Heritage Woods and Hollythorn drives at 4:30 a.m. Feb. 13 reportedly asked a snowplow driver to pull his vehicle out of the ditch. The plow driver noticed he was intoxicated and called police, who found him walking in the parking lot of a nearby apartment complex. He refused to provide identification, refused to perform a field sobriety test and became belligerent with officers. He was arrested for DUI and additionally charged with felony drug abuse after police found a number of unidentified medications and five narcotic tablets in his vehicle. He screamed and pounded the walls of a holding cell and smeared blood on a window, resulting in a charge to the township for the decontamination of the cell, and also was charged with felony vandalism and transported to the Summit County Jail.

Police patrolling Copley Road Feb. 14 observed a male using a pay phone and determined a vehicle he was driving had been reported stolen from Parma. He was charged with receiving stolen property and possession of a crack pipe found in the vehicle and taken to the Summit County Jail.

A female whose vehicle went into a ditch as she drove on South Cleveland-Massillon Road Feb. 14 failed a field sobriety test and was charged with DUI and released to a friend.

Officers were called to a domestic dispute that began in a vehicle while a man and woman were traveling on state Route 21 Feb. 15. The female reported the male who was driving ordered her to get out of the car at an unknown location, and when she refused, he slammed her head against the car window and grabbed her phone when she tried to call for help. When they arrived at her home on Ryewood Road, the female attempted to get out of the car, and the male took off and drove head-on into a snow bank, then threw a gallon of milk against the front door of her residence after she got out of the vehicle, and took off. Police signed a warrant for domestic violence against the Clinton man and photographed the victim’s injuries.

A woman called police to a Regina Road residence Feb. 15, when she reported she went to the residence to pick up her children following a visit with their father. She said he threw a can of soda and struck her in the head as she left, then threw a metal ashtray that went out the window. She grabbed the children and went to her vehicle, where police found her when they arrived. The male denied throwing anything at the female. He was arrested for domestic violence, and during processing he admitted throwing items at her. 

A woman reported Feb. 16 that suspects entered her father’s garage on Milan Avenue Feb. 10 and stole a pressure washer, nail gun, saw, airbag assembly for a Honda Civic and a snow blower.

Also on that day, police patrolling Medina Road observed a vehicle sitting in the middle of the road, interviewed two females in the vehicle and called EMS, stating the two might have overdosed on medication. The driver said she had taken multiple medications, but she was unsure what she had taken and that she had recently given birth to a baby who was experiencing heroin withdrawal at a local hospital. Police found empty and partially filled vials of medication strewn around the inside of the vehicle. The females were unable to provide information to EMS, but in the emergency room, the driver told the medical staff she had taken an unknown number of Xanax tablets she got from her brother. She was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs.

FAIRLAWN: A driver stopped on Fort Island Drive around 2 a.m. Feb. 14 for a vehicle equipment violation was charged with drug abuse after he surrendered two bags of marijuana to police and officers found a third bag in the vehicle glove compartment.

On Feb. 16, officers investigated reports of panhandlers outside a West Market Street hotel and found the suspects leaving in a vehicle. Police stopped the driver, arrested one man in the vehicle on a warrant and released him to Akron police.

An employee of a mall department store surrendered Feb. 18 on a warrant for identity fraud involving an elderly victim, which is a felony, and misuse of a credit card. The victim reported she used the credit card to make a purchase in December and later realized she did not have her credit card. She went back to the store and spoke to the suspect, who told her she had returned the card. The victim then learned that the card had been used at five mall locations to charge merchandise totaling more than $800. Police interviewed the suspect, who again denied she used the card. Following an investigation and a review of video surveillance footage that depicted the suspect using the victim’s card to make transactions, police signed warrants for her arrest.

A man reported he parked his vehicle in a mall lot Feb. 19, left his wallet under his coat in the front seat of the unlocked vehicle and went into a mall store. He returned 15 minutes later to find his wallet lying open on the seat and money, credit cards and checks missing.

On Feb. 19, police investigated a report by a woman who said money and two police identification cards were stolen from her purse while she was having her nails done at a mall salon. She described a female, who was with an 8-month-old infant sitting beside the purse. The purse was later located on the infant changing table in the restroom of a mall restaurant. Video surveillance footage showed the same suspect who was in the nail salon enter the restroom pushing a baby stroller. Detectives are working to identify her and have broadcast information about the missing police identification to other police agencies.

A county deputy working security at a West Market Street children’s restaurant reported Feb. 20 two women were creating a disturbance by picking up their children and placing them over a barrier to move them to the front of a line of waiting children. The deputy told the two women to leave the business and one of the women shoved him as police arrived and observed the incident. When officers attempted to arrest the female, she refused to cooperate and was handcuffed and charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and criminal trespassing, and taken to the Summit County Jail. Police located the second female in the restaurant and charged her with criminal trespassing for refusing the management’s request to leave.

NORTON: A driver stopped for a traffic violation on South Cleveland-Massillon Road Feb. 11 was arrested for DUI and possession of a drug pipe found in his pocket.

Detectives are investigating the burglary of a Berry Road residence Feb. 12, when a couple reported their juvenile son called them at work around midnight to say someone had been in the house walking around while he was lying on the sofa. The parents returned home to find evidence that the suspect entered their home and bedroom and stole four shotguns.

A woman called police to a Thirty-one Street motel Feb. 12, when she said she told her boyfriend she was moving out and he held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her. He was arrested for domestic violence and taken to the Summit County Jail.

Police were called to a fight at a location on Eastern Road Feb. 13, when two males began fighting following a vehicle crash involving an erratic driver. The other driver reported the suspect pulled him from his vehicle, punched him several times and threw him into the snow on the roadside. Several young males intervened and attacked the suspect, incapacitating him until police arrived, who arrested him for assault, DUI and possession of an open container of liquor in a vehicle. He was transported to Akron General Medical Center for evaluation due to his severe intoxication.

A Norton man reported he was standing in his friend’s driveway on Wadsworth Road Feb. 14, when an Akron man stopped his vehicle, exited and punched the victim in the mouth, then drove off. The friend later reported two vehicles outside her Wadsworth Road residence were damaged and she believes the same suspect is responsible.

Police on South Cleveland-Massillon Road Feb. 14 stopped a driver for lane violations. He exhibited signs of intoxication, failed several field sobriety tests and was charged with DUI and possession of an open bottle of liquor in a vehicle. He was additionally charged with three counts of child endangering because he had three minor children in the vehicle with him at the time of the incident.

Police attempted to stop the driver of a vehicle with an expired registration Feb. 18. The driver refused to stop and continued driving on Wooster Road, turned into the driveway of a business and eventually had to stop due to the volume of traffic leaving the business. The driver refused to perform a field sobriety test and was arrested for DUI and additionally charged with carrying a concealed weapon when police found a large knife in his vehicle as well as receiving stolen property when police determined the validation sticker on his vehicle license plate was not registered to the vehicle.

RICHFIELD: An employee of a Brecksville Road office reported she arrived for work the morning of Feb. 11 and found the door had been broken. She walked through the office several times before calling police, and reported there appeared to be nothing missing. Police instructed her to perform a thorough inventory and notify them if anything is missing. A laptop computer was stolen from a nearby office around the same time, and officers were investigating a possible connection between the incidents.

Police responded to a vehicle crash on Southern Road the evening of Feb. 12 and spoke to a driver whose Jeep slid off the road into a snow bank. He admitted he had been drinking and told officers he swerved to avoid a deer in the roadway. He exhibited signs of impairment and failed a field sobriety test and was arrested for having physical control of a vehicle while intoxicated.

Officers from Peninsula requested assistance in the pursuit of a driver who was speeding into Richfield on Interstate 271 Feb. 13. Officers from both communities attempted to stop the driver as he reached speeds of 85 mph in a vehicle with no license plates, then exited the highway on state Route 94 and drove into a snow bank while attempting to drive into the parking lot of a landscaping business. The Cleveland man was apprehended by Peninsula police and charged with felony fleeing.

The Akron police reports were compiled by Stephanie Kist, and the remainder were compiled by Maggie DeMellier.

Editor’s note: The police reports provided here are a sampling of those filed with each community’s police departments. For questions related to the reports we’ve included or others we have not, call the West Side Leader at (330) 665-9595. To provide information on an alleged criminal act noted in this week’s report, call the local police department.

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