AKRON
Suspects charged
AKRON: Two suspects have been charged with robbery in connection with a series of cigarette thefts that have taken place at area convenience stores.
Kevin Moultry, 42, of Akron, was arrested. A warrant was issued for Adrian Wright, 44, of Akron.
Police say they were identified from surveillance video inside the Circle K at 1842 Newton St., where a clerk was shoved out of the way and two cartons of cigarettes were stolen Feb. 6.
Police released the video last month in the hopes of identifying the two men they say targeted convenience stores at least 12 times since October. Police say a total of about 60 cartons of cigarettes were stolen.
Akron police said the men typically visited area stores and asked to purchase five or more cartons of cigarettes. Once the items were on the counter, the men grabbed the cartons and fled.
To date, Moultry and Wright have been charged only in the Newton Street theft.
Carrier threatened
AKRON: An Akron man is accused of ordering a mail carrier from an alley at gunpoint.
William Dawson, 21, also is charged with two counts of carrying a concealed weapon, aggravating menacing and drug abuse.
He was arrested Wednesday, after police said he pulled a gun and told the carrier to “stay out of the alley.” The incident happened around the 700 block of North Main Street.
Police say Dawson also had a knife, a bag of marijuana and two scales.
He is scheduled to appear today in Akron Municipal Court.
AURORA
Fatal fire
AURORA: An Aurora man was found dead after a fire broke out inside his North Chillicothe Road home.
Eddie S. Dilworth III, 73, was found dead when Aurora firefighters searched his home Wednesday evening, fire officials said. He was located in a room completely engulfed in flames.
A cause of death is still pending, said Wayne Enders, an assistant with the Portage County Coroner’s Office.
Fire crews dispatched to the home, at 607 N. Chillicothe Road (state Route 306), found the house filled with smoke and flames. Witnesses told firefighters that Dilworth was inside.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
HARTVILLE
Gold, silver stolen
HARTVILLE: Gold and silver coins and other gold items valued at more than $47,000 were stolen from the Hartville Coin & Jewelry Store on Thursday morning without thieves ever going inside.
The heist occurred in the shop’s parking lot off Edison Street Northwest about 9:30 a.m. as an employee loaded mailing packages of gold and silver merchandise into the trunk of a car to go to the post office for shipping.
Uniontown police Chief Harold Britt said a security guard told them a man at the front door had just been told that the shop wouldn’t open for several minutes and was walking back to his vehicle as the employee drove out of the lot, forgetting to close the trunk lid.
One of the bags of coins fell to the ground as the customer approached his sport utility vehicle and saw the bag hit the pavement. He and his driver quickly pulled alongside the bag, which they grabbed.
Britt said the stolen bag contained 10 one-ounce Krugerrand gold coins, a half-ounce Krugerrand, three sovereign British gold coins, 75 Canadian silver dollars and 35 troy ounces of miscellaneous gold.
The chief said his department will view enhanced video from the area to try to identify the two thieves and also get the license number of the silver Buick SUV.
Anyone with information is asked to call Uniontown police at 330-699-6444.
LAKEMORE
Man arrested
LAKEMORE: A Lakemore man who was arrested after a standoff with police last weekend now is accused of using Craigslist to lure prospective tenants to a nonexistent rental property.
James Barrett, 41, was charged this week with two felony theft charges. Springfield police detectives said at least three people said they responded to an ad on the website offering a house for rent on Springfield Lake Drive.
Police say the property is owned by Barrett, who posted the ad, accepted deposits, but never intended to rent his house. Police believe there may be other similar cases and ask that potential victims contact detectives at 330-784-1609. Barrett was originally arrested Saturday after he barricaded himself inside his home and would not comply with repeated requests to surrender, police said.
Officers were there to serve an arrest warrant for a previous aggravated menacing case. Metro SWAT officers were sent to the home and Barrett was arrested, ending the three-hour standoff.
He was charged with obstructing justice and inducing panic.
NORTHEAST OHIO
Housing meetings
A series of public meetings will be held this month to review the findings of a study known as a Regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice.
The meetings will offer a chance for residents to provide input and share opinions about fair housing choices available to residents and ways communities can work to enhance housing choices.
Summit County’s meeting will be at 9 a.m. Monday at the Akron Urban League, 440 Vernon Odom Blvd. in Akron.
Residents in Wayne County will meet at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Wayne Metropolitan Housing Authority, 1273 W. Old Lincoln Way, Wooster.
Medina County will host its meeting at 2 p.m. in Medina City Hall, 132 N. Elmwood Ave.
A meeting will be held in Portage County at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the Portage County Regional Planning Commission, 124 N. Prospect St., Ravenna.
The final session will be at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Metropolitan Centre, 601 Cleveland Ave. NW, Canton.
Anyone in need of special accommodations should call 330-375-2949.
STARK COUNTY
Tapes for sale
CANTON: Stark County District Library officials said Thursday that because the library is lending VCR tapes so infrequently, the tapes will be eliminated from circulation and sold.
The library’s collection will be available at the Friends of the Library book sale on the first Saturday of each month and in the Friends’ shop at the Main Library, 715 Market Ave. N.
For more information, call 330-452-0665 or go to www.starklibrary.org.
Meth trash found
UNIONTOWN: Police are searching for the person who discarded four bags of trash along Mogadore Avenue before 6 p.m. Tuesday that appear to be materials used to produce methamphetamine.
A lab technician is analyzing the contents to help police track down the owner of the materials.
Police Chief Harold Britt said he suspects someone tossed the bags away from a potential meth lab site to try to throw off police in their investigation.
