Report: Apartment fire
caused by cigarette
YOUNGSTOWN - A blaze at a North Side apartment about 1:15 p.m. Wednesday was caused by a cigarette, according to reports.
Crews were called to 122 W. Dennick Ave. and found smoke coming from the second floor. People inside told firefighters that they were on the first floor and smelled smoke, so someone checked the second floor and discovered the fire in a bedroom.
The fire was kept to the bedroom, reports state. Damage is listed at $1,500. No one was injured.
Coroner IDs second victim
in Jackson fire
JACKSON - The Mahoning County Coroner's office has identified the second victim of the Sunday morning fatal fire in the township as 48-year-old Jeffrey T. Davenport.
Earlier this week the coroner's office confirmed that 75-year-old Audrey Lundsford, Davenport's mother, also died in the blaze at 1875 N. Duck Creek Road.
Autopsies revealed that both of them died from smoke inhalation. The coroner reported that no evidence of trauma was found on their bodies.
Toxicology results are pending for both. Davenport's body, which was badly burned, was identified through dental records. Officials were able to identify Lundsford more easily, they said.
Case against mayor's son
transferred to Niles
WARREN - The Warren mayor's son's drug possession case has been transferred to a court outside the city.
Jelani Franklin, 28, of Homewood S.E., was cited Jan. 11 on a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana by an agent with the Ohio Investigative Unit of the Ohio Department of Commerce. The state agency was in town investigating allegations that Uncle Sil's Bar and Grill, 2774 Youngstown Road S.E., was selling alcohol to minors.
Franklin pleaded not guilty last week in Warren Municipal Court and was released on a $1,500 personal recognizance bond, court records show.
Per Judge Terry Ivanchak, the case was transferred to Niles Municipal Court, where a hearing is scheduled to take place on Feb. 13.
Police: Man arrested
with drugs, cash
YOUNGSTOWN - A man arrested on drug charges following a traffic stop late Wednesday evening had more than $7,800 cash on him, police reports state.
Louis R. Edwards, 45, of Brookview Court in Canfield, was arraigned on a felony charge of possession of drugs, a misdeamenor charge of possession of drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia and a traffic charge.
He was pulled over for failing to use a turn signal at Lucius and South avenues about 11:50 p.m., police said. He resisted efforts to handcuff him but eventually was cuffed and searched, the reports state. In his waistband Edwards had a large pile of cash, reports state. Officers also found a bag of powder cocaine which measured 21 grams, a digital scale and a small amount of marijuana, reports state.
Two men file lawsuit
in YSU hazing claim
YOUNGSTOWN - Two men who say they were severely beaten in a fraternity hazing last year sued a national fraternity, its Youngstown State University chapter and more than a dozen individuals, the Associated Press reported.
Resean Yancey and Breylon Stubbs, both of Youngstown, filed their lawsuit Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. The action alleges that the beatings occurred early last year. It seeks more than $25,000 from each defendant.
YSU spokesman Ron Cole said the university was not named in the lawsuit. The university suspended the chapter last year over the alleged hazing.
Eight men named in the lawsuit are to go on trial May 13 on felonious assault charges.