Police: Man exposed himself while shopping



YANKEE LAKE — A Pymatuning Township man police say on May 3 showed his genitals to a store cashier in Yankee Lake was charged Thursday with public indecency, police said.

David W. Hardin, 19, of 3264 N. Hermitage Road, at about 6 p.m. walked into Yankee Lake Party Center, 1800 Route 7, with his genitals exposed, police said.

He shopped in the store and bought two bags of chips from a female cashier while continuing to expose himself, police said. The entire incident was watched by an off-duty Hartford patrolman who helped Brookfield police identify Hardin, they added.

Man accused of raping woman near his home



PYMATUNING TOWNSHIP — A Pymatuning Township man charged with raping a 20-year-old woman on March 8 was arrested Friday at a Hempfield Township home, police said.

Craig A. Totten Jr., 20, of 90 W. 10th St., is accused of raping the woman in another home on West 10th St., police said Monday.

Man broke into police cruiser, cops say



MASURY — A Masury man was charged Friday after he broke into a Brookfield police cruiser and turned on the lights and siren, police said.

Erik Szelest, 24, of 8097 Warren-Sharon Road, had to be electronically shocked by police at about 12:45 p.m. and forcibly removed from the cruiser after refusing orders to exit it, police said.

Police were on a medical call in the area when Szelest broke into the cruiser, they said.

Szelest was charged with criminal trespass, resisting arrest and also picked up on a breaking and entering charge in connection with an May 6 incident in the 1300 block of Broadway Road, Masury, police said. He was taken to Trumbull County Jail, police added.

Man accused of beating wife pleads guilty



HERMITAGE — A former Hermitage man pleaded guilty to terroristic threats, simple assault and false imprisonment for beating his wife Nov. 4.

Christopher Emmett Thomas, 36, currently of 1171 E. Connelly Ave., Sharon, pleaded guilty Monday before Common Pleas Judge John C. Reed.

Thomas’s wife, Leyla, 35, was treated at a local hospital after the beating, police said.

On the way home from a wedding in Warren, Ohio, police said Thomas started beating her while driving and, once they arrived home, tackled, punched and kicked her.

Police also said he pulled her hair, dragged her across a parking lot and threatened to kill her.

Purse snatcher pleads guilty in four cases



SHARON — A former Sharon man accused of purse snatching pleaded guilty in four separate thefts Monday, including using a fake handgun to rob a woman outside Quaker Steak and Lube.

Jason R. Troutman, 31, formerly of 188 E. Budd St., also pleaded guilty to two counts felony trespassing, theft, and robbery before Common Pleas Judge John C. Reed.

The most serious charge against Troutman is using a fake handgun to steal $16 from a woman outside the Sharon eatery’s corporate offices.

Troutman was also charged with:

• Asking for a job application July 31 in a business on Hickory Street and, after a female employee went to get one, stealing her purse.

• Taking an employee’s purse Aug. 9 in Victor Printing, Victor Way.

• Grabbing a woman’s purse and running way with it on Aug. 20 in Primary Health, East Silver Street.

Police said he was charged with robbery in the last case because he got into a tug-of-war with the purse’s owner. When force is used, theft becomes robbery.

Condition improves for man injured in accident



HERMITAGE — The condition of a Farrell man critically hurt in a two-vehicle crash at 2:14 p.m. May 6 on North Hermitage Road near Dutch Lane, Hermitage, has improved to satisfactory, said a spokeswoman for St. Elizabeth’s Health Center, Youngstown.

The injured man, William Austin, 71, of 825 Wallis Ave., pulled from a private drive into the path of a southbound vehicle driven by Roy Kerry, 70, of 3611 Cardinal Drive, South Pymatuning Township, police said. Austin has been cited with failing to yield.