Local News
UPDATE: Internet fraud dupes woman
Thought she knew person on Facebook
SHARON — Sharon police warn people to be wary of Internet fraud after a local woman was scammed out of more than $1,300 through contact on a social-networking site.
A 57-year-old Sharon woman reported the fraud to police on Jan. 31.
While on Facebook, the popular Web site that allows “friends” to share photos and communicate, the woman was contacted by someone she believed was an old friend’s daughter, police said.
However the daughter’s account had been hacked and while it appeared to be her chatting with the victim, it wasn’t, police said. The young woman no longer had access to her own account and just assumed it was a computer glitch, police said.
Through Facebook’s instant-message feature, the women talked and after brief pleasantries, the alleged “friend” told the Sharon woman that she was in London and had been robbed at gunpoint, police said.
Whoever was posing as the girl said her cash, credit cards and cell phone had been stolen. She still had her passport, but had no money to get back home, the scammer said.
So the Sharon woman offered to wire money to help the person and sent $720 and was charged a $56 fee to do so.
The person later contacted the woman and said it wasn’t quite enough for a ticket home so the Sharon woman transferred another $500 to London, for which she was charged a $43 fee.
Police caution people about sending any money to anyone who contacts them via the Internet. They suggest not taking anything at face value and verifying the story through some method other than e-mail or networking sites.
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City leaders open to talks
Sharon officials aren’t opposed to sitting down with their counterparts in Farrell to revisit the idea of combining the two struggling cities.
“It never costs a penny to talk and there’s no (idea) that’s not worth looking at,” Sharon councilman Ed Palanski said. “I think it would be foolish to oppose looking at the idea.”
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Murphy’s Law doesn’t faze regional planners
A complicated, two-day public meeting blitz in 32 counties ran headlong into Murphy’s Law in Mercer County on Tuesday.
The group Power of 32 are looking to re-write the regional map and create a grand, 15-year strategic economic plan for the 32 counties in four states that make up the Ohio River basin and greater Pittsburgh area.
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Forrest Brooke copes with water outage
Residents of Forrest Brooke Mobile Home Community in Jefferson and Lackawannock Townships woke up Tuesday morning to find they didn’t have any water.
Managers of the park could not be reached for comment, but residents said they were told they won’t get water service back for at least another month.
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City facing bleak financial reality
LaVon Saternow has been Farrell’s city manager since 1992. Shortly after she took the job, Sharon Steel, the city’s economic engine, officially closed down.
Since, the city has struggled to remain solvent and Mrs. Saternow said it is facing its worst financial crisis in her tenure.
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Near-complete addition to let man come home
Although the weather delayed the start of Penny and Paul Strechansky’s construction project by about three weeks, the end of the sawing, hammering and stapling is in sight.
“It should be done by the middle of next week,” Strechansky said of the 15-by-20 foot addition being built onto the back of his garage in Hermitage, which will be the new home of his grandson, David Johnson.
Johnson was critically injured in a car crash June 19, 2009, on what is now Interstate 376 in Lawrence County. The crash rendered Johnson, who just turned 21, blind and brain damaged. He is unable to care for himself.
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Man prison-bound for role in drug buy shooting
It may never be known for certain who fired the two fatal shots that killed a Sharon teen on Nov. 6 on Wallis Avenue during a botched drug deal, prosecutors have said.
But Christopher Swogger, 24, Sharon, was fingered by at least one other suspect as the one whose bullets killed John B. Hosey III, 18, of 422 Meek St. Swogger was sentenced Monday.
Swogger was sent to prison for 1 1/2 to 3 years for having a firearm without a license, ending his role in the criminal prosecutions of the drug deal turned shooting.
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Farrell, Sharon to revisit merger
Times are tough.
In Farrell Monday night, city council heard a grim financial report from City Manager LaVon Saternow.
“It’s not a pretty picture,” Mrs. Saternow said. “We could conceivably run out of cash by the end of the year. I don’t know how to put it more bluntly.”
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Storm takes a toll on village green
Cleanup crews were clearing fallen trees throughout Brookfield Township well into Sunday evening in the aftermath of severe thunderstorm that ripped through the community Saturday before making it’s way to Mercer County.
On the Historic Brookfield Green more than a dozen trees were knocked down by the storm. Several people who lived there watched workers clear fallen branches from the road and their yards Sunday afternoon.
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History comes alive at festival
The ground shook Saturday morning at Pymatuning State Park as men dressed as Union soldiers from the Civil War shot off two cannons. Their rumble could be heard reverberating throughout the park.
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Pedophile going to prison 10-20 years for 2nd offense
The Harrisville man who pleaded guilty to the repeated sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl over a 3è-year period told the judge he couldn’t help himself when he was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison Friday.
Jason L. Hites, 28, said he tried to stop himself, “but part of me kept pushing me and pushing me to do the things.” - More Local News Headlines
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City leaders open to talks
