Note: This page is updated most Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays with police logs from the Medina, Brunswick and Wadsworth areas.

Wadsworth police

Wednesday, Dec. 31
4:11 p.m. — 800 block Main St., a Norton man reported his vehicle stolen. Police located the vehicle, which was totaled, and towed it to an impound lot.
6:10 p.m. — 500 block College St., a resident reported being assaulted in a car. Police arrested William Sloan, 35, 300 block Oak St., Wadsworth, on charges of assault and resisting arrest.

Thursday, Jan. 1
9:19 p.m. — 1100 Williams Reserve Blvd., Rhonda Ramsdell, 52, Marshallville, charged with theft at Kohl’s.

Friday, Jan. 2
8:27 p.m. — 100 block Great Oaks Trail, Kristopher Keener, 21, Norton, charged with theft at Buehler’s.

Police use stun gun

Brunswick police used a stun gun to subdue an Akron man who got into a fight New Year’s Day with his girlfriend at her home in the 1500 block of McKinley Avenue.

According to a police report, Mark A. Jones, 34, was charged with assault, resisting an officer, obstructing official business and making a false report after police responded to the home about 12:30 a.m.

The report said a woman who lived at the McKinley Avenue address with the girlfriend called police to report Jones was hitting his girlfriend.

The woman told police Jones also assaulted her when she tried to break up the fight. She said she gathered up her small children, left the apartment and called police.

When police arrived, they said the girlfriend was crying and she said Jones had hit her. Her face was red and she had a cut on her lip.

Officers reported Jones was aggressive and refused to comply with their orders. They used a stun gun to subdue him.

According to the report, Jones gave officers a false name. The report said Jones has a history of violent crimes, and he is wanted on felony charges in Georgia.

Jones was not booked into the Brunswick jail and instead sent to the Medina County Jail. In the police report, the officer wrote Jones was moved to the county jail “due to high call volume, threats against officers in jail and Jones already having been in prison.”

Brunswick police

Thursday, Jan. 1
9:35 a.m. — 1300 block Catherine Drive, Ashley L. Moats, 20, 1200 block Catherine Drive, charged with driving under an operating a vehicle impaired suspension. Her license plates were seized following a traffic stop.
1:48 p.m. — 4000 block Center Road, Eric Wozniak, 28, Parma, turned himself in on a warrant for failure to appear in court to answer to a charge of driving under suspension.
4 p.m. — 4500 block Aspen Lake Drive, rear window of a car was forced open and a subwoofer valued at $500 was stolen from inside. The victim reported the theft happened between Dec. 30 and the time of the report.

Friday, Jan. 2
1:21 a.m. —1100 block Pearl Road, John R. Andrey, 33, Hershey, Pennsylvania, charged with operating a vehicle impaired, breath test refusal with a prior conviction and failure to display headlights. He also was served with a warrant from the Sheffield Police Department.
2:14 p.m. — 1000 block Pearl Road, David C. Wagner Jr., 48, 4200 block Arlington Court, Brunswick, charged with operating a vehicle impaired, weaving and failure to yield.

Sunday, Jan. 4
1:59 a.m. — 4200 block Maiden Court, Talia M. Hofner, 25, was arrested at her home on a warrant charging her with failure to appear on operating a vehicle impaired charge. Police initially responded to the home about a complaint of loud music.

Medina police

Thursday, Jan. 1
3:31 p.m. — 1000 block N. Court St., police received a report of a stolen wallet in the North Court business district. A juvenile was charged with the theft.

Friday, Jan. 2
12:20 p.m. — 700 block Miner Drive, police received a report of tires being slashed on a vehicle.

Monday, Jan. 5
1:27 a.m. — 400 block Lafayette Road, police received a report of men looking into car windows. Police were not able to locate the men.
1:12 p.m. — 900 block Dawn Court, complainant reported his Mazda MX6 was keyed and tires slashed.

Medina Twp. police

Thursday, Jan. 1
7:11 a.m. — 3100 block Eastpointe Drive, police responded to a suspicious person complaint about a man sleeping in his car. The man told police he was a soldier on leave and on a road trip.

Montville Twp. police

Monday, Jan. 5
8:02 a.m. — 3500 block Medina Road, a woman was dropped by Medina Public Transit at Goodwill an hour before the store opened. Police provided a ride for her to Buehler’s to stay warm until Goodwill opened.

The post This week’s Medina County police log (updated three times weekly) appeared first on The Medina County Gazette.

A Wednesday night fire in Litchfield Township destroyed the home of Moira Crabtree. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

Medina County’s fourth major fire in a week razed a Litchfield Township home to the ground Wednesday evening.

Moira Crabtree, of 10348 Jones Road, said she was in Medina for doctor’s appointments when the fire destroyed her home.

“It’s just my whole life,” she said. “All of my belongings are gone.”

A Wednesday night fire in Litchfield Township destroyed the home of Moira Crabtree. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

Crabtree lived in the home with her four cats. She said she has only been able to find one.

She returned to her property Thursday afternoon in shock to sort through the remains and continue the search for her cats.

“I still cannot believe it,” she said. “I just hope that my cats are OK.”

Only the brick chimney and the garage toward the back of the structure still stand. The charred remains of the home and almost all of Crabtree’s belongings collapsed into the basement underneath ashen pools of water.

The Litchfield Fire Department still is investigating the cause of the fire. Fire Chief Jason Davis said the fire might have started in the fireplace.

Crabtree said she uses wood to heat her home.

“We all do out here in the country,” she said.

Crabtree said she will stay at her neighbor’s house until she can figure out a more permanent living situation.

The extreme cold conditions made battling the fire difficult.

Davis said his station received the call shortly before 8:30 p.m. and didn’t leave the scene until 1 a.m.

“All the firefighters and mutual aid handled the situation greatly since we had a lot of obstacles to overcome,” he said. “A lot of our apparatuses kept freezing up and tankers would freeze as soon as we would fill them up with water.”

Davis said tanker trucks from Chatham Township, Erhart-York Township, Grafton, Valley City, Lafayette Township and Spencer fire departments provided water to fight the fight.

Davis said members of his department — along with other departments from around the county — are exhausted from a week in which they have battled three other structure fires in western Medina County and Lorain County.

“As far as fires in these types of weather conditions, I can’t recall another week like this,” Davis said. “Not in the last 10 to 15 years at least.”

Erhart-York Township Assistant Fire Chief Guy Roach agreed, saying his department has been tested this week.

“It just surprises me how well these firefighters have responded and how dedicated they are,” he said of his volunteer department. “Especially with the weather, the dedication people have to help other people is amazing.”

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

Besides Wednesday’s house fire on Jones Road in Litchfield Township, Medina County fire departments fought three other structure fires in the county and one in Lorain County in the first full week of 2015:

• On Monday morning, six fire departments responded to a house fire at 7291 Stone Road in York Township. The cause of the sprawling $1.8 million home is under investigation by the state fire marshal.

• On Monday afternoon, six fire departments responded to a barn fire at 5546 Egypt Road in Chatham Township. The fire took about an hour for crews to put out.

• On Monday evening. Litchfield Township provided a tanker truck to battle a chimney fire at 20293 Foster Road, Penfield Township in Lorain County.

• On Tuesday evening, five fire departments from the southern portion of the county assisted at a house fire at 879 Brook Road in Wadsworth.

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Kaitlin Walters

A missing 13-year-old Wayne County girl was found safe Thursday in Knox County, Tennessee, according to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office.

A post on the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page said Kaitlin Walters, of Burbank, was found with Walter Lee Dunn, 27, who has been charged in connection with her disappearance.

About 1:45 a.m. Thursday, Dunn and Kaitlin knocked on a resident’s door and asked for assistance. A Knox County sheriff’s deputy located them and contacted emergency medical service because he thought they both might be suffering from hypothermia, according to the Facebook post.

While being treated by EMS, the deputy learned the girl and Dunn were in a national database — Kaitlin for missing and Dunn for having a felony warrant out for his arrest in connection with her disappearance.

Kaitlin had been missing for more than a week.

The Sheriff’s Office said Monday afternoon that Kaitlin left her home Dec. 30.

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A Medina High School sophomore who was suspended after a fight at school has appealed the punishment, arguing the school should give students a right to defend themselves.

The 15-year-old girl’s attorney, Brent English, said his client served the suspension but wants it removed from her record. The appeal was filed Jan. 2 in Medina County Common Pleas Court.

“The argument they’re trying to make is that students don’t have a right to self-defense in schools, and I just think that’s wrong,” English said. “You can’t fairly suspend or punish a student for simply defending themselves.”

English said the policy is detrimental because his client missed class assignments while she served her suspension.

“That could have a big impact on her schooling,” English said. “She’d be able to complete the work that she didn’t receive credit for in the five days she wasn’t there.”

English said the other teenage girl also was punished for the fight, in accordance with the school district’s “zero tolerance” policy for violence.

“Zero tolerance” policies — which punish all students involved in a school fight, regardless of who started it — are widespread in schools across the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

According to the Medina Schools Student Handbook, “The board will not tolerate any form of violence, disruptive or inappropriate behavior.” It also states, “In most cases, all parties involved in the fight will be suspended.”

Included in the court documents filed by the student is a Dec. 8 letter sent to the girl’s parents by Kristine Quallich, the district’s director of educational services.

In the letter, Quallich acknowledged the parents had appealed the suspension to the district first and explained she had decided to uphold the suspension. She advised the parents they had the option to appeal her decision to common pleas court.

Quallich, who declined to comment on the case because it is ongoing, said in the letter that the teenager and her parents should report to the district any concerns they have for their daughter’s safety, and advised the girl to seek help in school if she feels threatened.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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A man whose Bronson Street home was padlocked by police as a public nuisance will spend two years on probation after pleading guilty to allow a friend to sell drugs at the home.

David Reed

David Reed was sentenced Thursday by newly elected Medina County Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler.

Reed pleaded guilty in November to a charge of permitting drug abuse, a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in prison.

The plea was part of a settlement in a lawsuit that was filed by the city, which asked a judge to label the house a “habitual resort” for criminals and evict Reed for 12 months.

The house was padlocked in October.

Reed, who has been to prison several times for drug trafficking, told The Gazette he no longer sells drugs and is trying to clean up his life. He said he knows his friends use and sell drugs, but he did not permit them to do it on his property. While he awaited trial on the lawsuit, county Drug Task Force agents reported they witnessed a 24-year-old man sell heroin at Reed’s house while he was home. Reed was arrested and charged.

Reed has said he intends to stay with his mother until his home is reopened.

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Donal Davis Jr. was riding this motorcycle when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Karen Davy. Davis was killed, and Davy has been charged with vehicular manslaughter. CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO

CARLISLE TWP. — A vehicular manslaughter charge has been filed against the driver involved in an Oct. 27 crash at Butternut Ridge and Indian Hollow roads that killed a motorcyclist.

Donal Davis Jr., a 54-year-old Grafton resident, was killed in the crash. In addition to vehicular manslaughter, driver Karen Davy, of Medina, was cited for failure to yield at a stop sign, according to a Sunday news release from the Ohio Highway Patrol Elyria post. A witness told The Chronicle-Telegram that Davy, 47, pulled out in front of Davis.

Davy was southbound on Butternut in a 2006 Nissan Xterra when Davis, who was eastbound on Indian Hollow riding a 2003 Kawasaki, collided with her. Davy in a police interview several days after the crash said she was taking her usual route home from work, said Sgt. Tim Hoffman, assistant post commander, quoting from a police report.

Davy said she looked both ways twice before pulling out. She saw a blur and tried to turn left to avoid Davis, who struck the bumper and front windshield on the passenger side of the Nissan, leaving a softball-size, spider web crack in the windshield.

Davy, who suffered bruises in the collision, said the crash was unavoidable.

“I don’t see how I could have done anything different,” she said.

Davis worked for Alco Manufacturing Corp. in Elyria, a screw machine product supplier. He was the father of 26-year-old Lindsey Davis.

Debbie Noska, Davis’ sister, said the family is grateful to the driver, who performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Davis before paramedics arrived. Noska said Lindsey Davis and the rest of the family are coping as best as they can with the death. “Only time’s going to heal that,” she said.

Contact Evan Goodenow at 329-7129 or egoodenow@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter at @egoodenowct.

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Alcohol or drugs were involved in more than a third of Medina County’s 14 fatal crashes last year, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol’s study of the factors involved in the crashes.

The study also showed 60 percent of the 15 people who died were not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

“Motorists can do their part by always buckling up and not driving while impaired,” said Lt. Mark Neff, commander of the patrol’s Medina post.

All the fatal crashes last year happened in townships. Most deaths occurred when the driver of the vehicle veered left of center or drove off the roadway — a combined 42 percent of the time.

Last year’s death toll of 15 was a big jump compared to the previous year. In 2013, two people were killed in fatal crashes on Medina County roads.
But experts say such large swings are not surprising when dealing with a small number of crashes.

“An increase in fatal crashes for Medina County is a very unfortunate thing,” Brunswick police Chief Carl Deforest said.

Brunswick police Lt. Brian Ohlin, commander of the Medina County OVI Task Force, said more sobriety checkpoints are planned for this year.

“In 2015, our partner agencies on the task force will be working together to conduct sobriety checkpoints and aggressive saturation patrols to take impaired motorists of off our streets,” Ohlin said.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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A Medina County grand jury has charged a 30-year-old Lodi man with a felony after police said he fired a pistol during an argument over money last month.

Maurio Grady was arrested Dec. 4 after a 911 caller reported a shooting at his home in the 200 block of North Academy Street. Police said Grady took the gun from a man he was fighting and missed when he fired a shot.

Grady was charged with having weapons under disability, a third-degree felony punishable by up to three years in prison. “Disability” under Ohio law refers to a court barring him from having guns because of a prior violent crime conviction — specifically aggravated robbery, according to his Dec. 31 indictment.

He also was charged with discharging a firearm on prohibited premises, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, because police said he fired the weapon in or near a parking lot. The misdemeanor charge carries up to a month in jail.

Police initially charged Grady with felonious assault, but the charges were revised by county prosecutors.

Grady is scheduled to enter a plea Jan. 22 before county Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler.

He has been free from the county jail since Dec. 19 on 10 percent of a $40,000 bond.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Staff and wire reports

A burst steam pipe in an AT&T switching office caused scattered 911 and phone service outages overnight in communities in northeastern Ohio, including in Medina County.

A spokesman for the Medina County Sheriff’s Office said service was restored in the county by this morning.

Media reports say Columbiana, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark and Summit counties were among those communities having problems.

The University of Akron, Kent State University, Akron General Medical Center and Akron Children’s Hospital were among those that lost phone service, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.

WEWS-TV reported that most 911 lines were operational again in Summit, Stark and Medina counties Wednesday morning. The station said a generator was running outside the AT&T facility in Akron with lines running into the building.

The 911 service was working again in Mahoning County midmorning, according to The Vindicator of Youngstown.

AT&T spokeswoman Holly Hollingsworth said the company apologies for the inconvenience.

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For the second time this month, a would-be robber demanded money from a clerk, but left empty handed, police said.

Medina police said the latest attempted robbery happened at Hawkins Market, 233 Lafayette Road, about 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Police Chief Patrick Berarducci said a woman described as white between the ages of 18 and 20 demanded money from a clerk at the register.

When the clerk didn’t immediately hand over the money, the woman left.

“She didn’t take any money and she was apparently planning on stealing a candy bar and left that behind on the counter as well,” Berarducci said. “I don’t think it was that serious of a demand.

“There are just some desperate people out there.”

In a Jan. 3 incident, Seville police reported a man attempted to rob the Circle K on Center Street.

Seville police Sgt. Ivan Reed said a clerk at the Circle K reported a man came into the store about 10:15 p.m. and told her to “give me what you’ve got.”

Reed said the clerk treated the demand as a joke, laughed and asked the man “What do you want?”

The man paid for a pack of cigarettes and left, driving away in a white Kia Sonata.

The clerk said the man reached into his back pocket, but did not brandish a weapon.

Reed described the man as white, about 5-foot-8 and thin. He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, a red bandana and sunglasses.

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A meeting to discuss the proposed Medina Municipal Court building Wednesday was postponed after Judge Dale H. Chase argued it was premature.

“I’m not sure I understand the purpose of this meeting at this time without having a contract with the architect and having their team present,” Chase said in an email sent to city officials Monday.

Dale H. Chase

Chase said it would better to have the architect evaluate the project before calling a meeting.

“Then I would expect a recommendation from the architect, perhaps with several options for the entire project, including cost estimates and a design, bid, construction schedule.”

Clerk of Council Kathy Patton said the purpose of the meeting was to “meet with the judge before the architect to just be on the same page for the size, budget and timeline of the building before the judge met with architect.”

In his email, Chase urged meeting with the architect.

“I can see the benefit of an initial ‘scope’ meeting with the architects, but let’s get them hired and involved in the project before we make uninformed decisions without the input of the professionals we have chosen to assist us.”

Mayor Dennis Hanwell acknowledged Chase’s argument prompted the cancellation of the meeting.

“Some of the members of the Council and the judge thought it would be better to have the architect there,” Hanwell said.

Last summer, City Council agreed to hire Silling Associates, of Charleston, West Virginia, as the architect for the project. Silling was the firm hired in 2008 to design the expansion and renovation of the Medina County Courthouse.

The meeting was rescheduled for Feb. 2.

“We want to work out the scope of services we want with the architect so we are not paying for things that don’t need done,” the mayor said.

Council’s Finance Committee agreed last year to build the courthouse as an addition to City Hall, 132 N. Elmwood Ave., and set aside $7 million for the project.

The proposed 25,000- to 30,000-square-foot building would replace the 13,000-square-foot courthouse at 135 N. Elmwood Ave., across the street from City Hall.

Plans call for the new courthouse to be an addition to the southwest side of City Hall, behind the police station, filling in part of what now is a parking lot.

Last summer the city purchased the Masonic Temple, just south of the City Hall parking lot. But no decision has been made on how it would fit into the courthouse project.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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Wadsworth police officer Seth Petit stops a member of Leadership Medina County on his way to the Local Government and Safety Forces Expo Wednesday morning as part of a mock OVI checkpoint set up by the Medina County OVI Task Force. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

Leadership Medina County class members got a surprise when they showed up for their Local Government and Safety Forces Expo on Wednesday morning.

As they pulled into the parking lot of the Medina County Fairgrounds in Medina, they were met with a mock sobriety checkpoint set up by the Medina County OVI Task Force.

“I think a lot of the people don’t realize all of the things that law enforcement do in the county,” said Sharon Danko, a member of the class of 2005 and a coordinator of Wednesday’s event. “Basically they put people through the safety check to educate them on that.”

Danko also is court administrator for Medina County Juvenile/Probate Court.

The daylong seminar familiarized class members with 37 services offered throughout the county.

“The average person in Medina doesn’t have a clue about half of these agencies,” Danko said. “The idea behind this is to say, ‘these are all the resources that exist in Medina County that you may not even know about.’ ”

During the morning, class members learned about various programs, including the public defender’s office.

At noon, the members were given a tour of the Juvenile Detention Center and then cut loose for a scavenger hunt aimed at testing their knowledge of the services they learned about in the morning.

Each group was given three to four tasks to complete using some of the services provided by a number of the agencies.

One group had to coordinate a ride on the Medina County Transit, while others had to visit the courthouse and go through a mock trial.

Leadership Medina County is in its 25th year of preparing members to become leaders in their communities.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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A Medina County jury on Thursday heard testimony from an elderly Wadsworth man, who said he didn’t think his daughter-in-law tried to kill him by burning down their home in 2012.

The man’s daughter-in-law, Carol Gross, is standing trial this week on charges of attempted murder and aggravated arson, first- and second-degree felonies. If convicted, she could face up to 22 years in prison.

Carol Gross

Gross, 44, is accused of trying to kill her father-in-law, octogenarian Wally Gross, in a Wolf Road house fire on Nov. 27, 2012, that razed the home and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.

Gross said he doesn’t believe his daughter-in-law is responsible for the fire.

“I don’t think Carol would do it because she had all her kids’ photographs there and she wouldn’t want them to burn up,” he said. “They were hanging up all around the house.”

He said he also doesn’t think she started the fire because she wasn’t home when he noticed smoke.

“She’d have to be a Houdini,” he said.

The jury heard from Wally Gross via a recording of a deposition that was taken in September. Gross was brought in to testify earlier in the week, but Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. Collier chose to play the deposition because the man’s health has deteriorated. The deposition was taken because of concern his health was failing.

County Assistant Prosecutor Michael McNamara questioned Wally Gross about his relationship with Carol Gross. The man said she would yell at him about once a week out of frustration over caring for him.

“Did she do anything else?” McNamara asked.

“She punched me in the chest,” Gross said. “That was a couple weeks before the fire.”

Defense attorney Russell Buzzelli objected to Gross’ allegations of violence.

Buzzelli on Thursday asked the judge to strike the statements from the record before the jury could hear the deposition.

Collier refused, saying the statements could be used to prove motive.

During his deposition, Gross described being in the house while it was burning.

“All I heard was an alarm going off, and that didn’t worry me too much,” he said, adding he thought the fire started in the oven.

“I called out for Carol, but no answer, and pretty soon, the smoke got so bad that I couldn’t take it.”

Gross said the next thing he remembered was moving toward the front door and then being examined by paramedics.

He said he didn’t remember getting rescued by a couple who were walking by the house and noticed the smoke.

Gross’ deposition ended with him explaining that Carol Gross was his primary caregiver because she took him to doctor appointments and filled his prescriptions.

Earlier in the trial, which began Monday, fire experts testified they did not find any accelerants in the debris. They said that could mean there were no accelerants or the accelerants burned away beyond detection.

Also testifying at the trial Thursday was Wadsworth Police Detective Dawn Schismenos, who said she questioned Carol Gross, her now-estranged husband Dorian Gross and their adult daughter.

Schismenos said Carol Gross told her she was out running an errand with her daughter when she received news that her home was ablaze.

Schismenos said she questioned Carol Gross about her relationship with Wally Gross.

“Her opinion was that Wally felt she stole his son from him,” Schismenos told the jury. “I felt she was frustrated with him and they didn’t see eye to eye.”

The trial is scheduled to continue today.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Human trafficking expert Ken Lawson, of the Columbus Division of Police, gives a lecture on the subject during a seminar held at Pat O’Brien Chevrolet in Medina on Friday morning. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

Caseworkers, law enforcement, elected officials and interested residents from across Northeast Ohio gathered Friday in Medina to discuss a widely misunderstood criminal industry: human trafficking.

Mead Wilkins, director of Medina County Job and Family Services, said the seminar is a crucial way to educate caseworkers and court workers on the law and how to recognize human trafficking.

In Medina, the nonprofit Child Advocacy Center deals with child welfare issues. Many times through their work with sexual assault victims, they find a new layer to the story.

“This is such a natural gateway to finding exploited children,” he said. “It is happening here. There are children in Medina County who are being sexually exploited and it happens more often than you think.”

Wilkins said that anyone suspects human trafficking should contact Job and Family Services or the Sheriff’s Office.

“Part of it is if you are not aware of it, you are not going to see it,” he said.

The seminar, held at Pat O’Brien Chevrolet, featured Ken Lawson, a Columbus police officer and human trafficking expert, as the keynote speaker.

“We have to change from seeing these people as criminals to seeing them as victims,” he told the crowd of more than 80 people. “When we do that, we will be able to provide the atmosphere where they can thrive.”

According to Lawson, as late as 2002, law enforcement and health services across the nation were not equipped with knowledge to identify someone who has been the victim of human trafficking. Instead, the person would have been charged with prostitution and most likely released to her abuser.

Lawson described how victims of human trafficking become held against their will, the techniques their captors use to keep them under their control and ways to identify victims.

“Traffickers use force, fraud and coercion to achieve exploitation,” he said.

Many times, traffickers will promise a child’s family an education and better life for their child in the U.S., but when the child gets here he or she is denied school and forced into labor and sex, Lawson said.

Once under their control, traffickers will threaten their victims with force, rape, beatings and threats of harm toward their family if they do not obey their orders, he said.

Between 14,500 and 17,500 victims are trafficked into the U.S. each year, Lawson said.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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Caron Simmons

A 50-year-old Lafayette Township woman will spend six months in jail for using her 4-year-old grandson to break into a Medina restaurant in June.

Caron J. Simmons pleaded guilty last month to breaking and entering, a fifth degree felony, and child endangerment, a first-degree misdemeanor.

She was charged in August after being identified in a surveillance video posted on the Medina Police Department’s Facebook page.

The video depicted a woman knocking on the back door of Eli’s Kitchen, 115 Public Square, while dressed in a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt at about 2:15 a.m. June 15. The woman was let it and emerged nine minutes later with a child. Police said the woman broke the front glass door of the restaurant and pushed the child inside.

The diner reported its cash register was smashed, but nothing was stolen.

In addition to jail time, Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. Collier sentenced Simmons last week to five years of probation and barred her from seeing her grandchildren until a counselor deems it appropriate.

Collier warned Simmons that failing to follow the terms of probation would land her in prison for a year.

This wasn’t Simmons’ first time in common pleas court: In 2005, she was convicted of safecracking and placed on probation.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Richfield police Sgt. Chris Fyffe directs traffic at State Road and state Route 303 (Center Road) in Hinckley Township. Two separate crashes involving five cars partially block the intersection. (KATIE ANDERSON / GAZETTE)

Two crashes minutes apart Monday at the same intersection in Hinckley Township involved five vehicles but resulted in no serious injuries.

The first crash at State Road and state Route 303 (Center Road) happened just before 1 p.m. when Treva Bane, of Parma Heights, drove her southbound sport utility vehicle through the intersection, failing to stop at a stop sign on State Road, Hinckley police Officer Dave Stepka said.

(KATIE ANDERSON / GAZETTE)

Jennifer Syms, of Brunswick, who was eastbound on Route 303, hit Bane’s SUV, causing it to roll onto its side and hit a third vehicle that was stopped at the northbound stop sign on State Road, Stepka said.

Bane’s passenger was transported to the emergency department at Brunswick Family Health Center with nonlife-threatening injuries and Bane was cited for failure to stop at a stop sign, Stepka said.

Mark Katcher, of Akron, put his vehicle’s flashers on and pulled his pickup to the shoulder on Center Road. Just after he got out of his truck to check on the people involved in the crash, his vehicle was rear-ended by a minivan driven by Thomas Clay, of Akron, Stepka said.

Clay also was transported to the Brunswick center with nonlife-threatening injuries.

Hinckley and Richfield police and EMS responded to the crashes, and Richfield police Sgt. Chris Fyffe directed traffic at the intersection for about an hour.

Contact reporter Katie Anderson at (330) 721-4012 or kanderson@medina-gazette.com.

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Mason Farnsworth, left, and Brandon Flemming

Two Medina men are awaiting sentencing after changing their pleas in connection with the theft of firearms from a North Court Street gun shop in September.

Mason Farnsworth, 21, and Brandon Flemming, 19, face up to 5 1/2 years in prison at their Feb. 22 and 26 sentencing hearings before Medina County Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler. Farnsworth pleaded guilty Jan. 12 and Flemming was convicted after pleading no contest Jan. 15.

Both men are charged with receiving stolen firearms, a fourth-degree felony; having weapons while under disability, a third-degree felony; and firearm specifications that make prison time mandatory.

“Disability” under Ohio law refers to a defendant who was barred by a judge from possessing weapons due to a violent felony conviction. According to their October indictments, Farnsworth has been convicted of burglary and Flemming of sexual battery.

The firearm specifications allege they had a weapon while committing a crime.

Farnsworth and Flemming were arrested in September after Branden Barry, of Medina, said they were involved in the theft of almost 20 guns worth thousands of dollars from DC Guns, 218 N. Court St. The store’s front window was found broken the morning of Sept. 6 and the guns were reported missing.

Barry, who was 17 at the time, was charged in county juvenile court; but county Prosecutor Dean Holman said Tuesday that Barry, who’s since turned 18, had his charges bound over to adult court. Barry’s charges were not immediately available Tuesday evening.

Medina police Sgt. Brett McNabb said only one of the stolen guns has been recovered since the theft because the weapons are suspected to have been sold.

“We do have one lead, but I don’t know at this point if it will pan out,” McNabb said. “Even if it does, it’ll only recover one or two of the guns at most.”

He said Medina police provided the guns’ serial numbers to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and to a national police database in case they’re used in other crimes.

“If guns were used in a crime, they’ll cross-reference our guns to see if those are the ones that were used,” McNabb said. “Ideally, we’ll find them before they’re used in a crime. But the reality is that it may be the way we recover some of these firearms.”

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Lodi Library management closed about a third of the building in November 2011 because the roof was structurally unsound. (GAZETTE FILE PHOTO)

The Medina County District Library will receive $640,000 in an out-of-court settlement ending a lawsuit over defects in the construction of the Lodi Library.

The library was closed in November 2011 for 2 1/2 years after officials said the wooden beams in the cathedral ceiling of the new library’s main room were weak because they dried out and began to twist.

Because of the danger of a collapse, the library’s materials — books, DVDs and computers — were moved to a cramped space in another part of the library. The library was not reopened to the public until May, after repairs were completed.

The library district filed a lawsuit in July 2013 against the architects, engineers, contractors and suppliers involved in the construction of the $3 million Lodi Library in 2005.

The settlement covered less than half the $1.5 million the library district spent on the renovations. But library officials said they were satisfied with the outcome because the work went beyond fixing the structural problems with the roof.

“The engineering and architectural solution involved removing the defective wood structural timbers and replacing those timbers with steel beams wrapped in oak,” said Kelly Kroll, the library district’s business manager and fiscal officer. “This solution provided a much more stable structural system while at the same time preserving the original wood timber appearance.”

In addition to fixing the roof, several new features were added to the library, including laptop rentals, self-checkout counters, a recording studio, an electronics table, sitting areas, a teen section, free lockers and study rooms.

The renovation was done by Prime Engineering & Architecture and Simmons Brothers Construction.

Kroll said the cost of the $640,000 settlement will be shared by the six defendants in the lawsuit:
• $250,000 from Cavanaugh Building Corp.;
• $250,000 by David Milling & Associates/Architects;
• $50,000 by Koehlinger Engineering;
• $50,000 by Amish Timber Framers Inc.;
• $25,000 by Thorson Baker & Associates;
• $15,000 by Ruhlin Co.

Attorneys for the library district, which operates the Lodi Library and five other branches throughout the county, filed a notice of dismissal of the lawsuit Jan. 15.

“The Medina County District Library is pleased to announce it has resolved its dispute with the architects, engineers, and contractors involved in the original construction of the Lodi Library,” library spokesperson Heather Coontz said in a news release. “The Library Board of Trustees unanimously voted to accept the combined settlement offer made by the defendants and put the litigation to rest.”

Coontz said roof repairs provided “substantial improvements over the old design in terms of safety and stability.”

“With the additional interior improvements, the Lodi Library is a beautiful relaxing space for patrons to use and enjoy now and for many years to come,” she said.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Carol Gross

A Medina County jury is deliberating the case of a Wadsworth woman who’s accused of trying to kill her elderly father-in-law in a 2012 house fire.

County Assistant Prosecutor Michael McNamara told the jury during closing arguments Wednesday morning that 44-year-old Carol Gross was the only person with motive to kill Wally Gross, who she cared for in her Wolf Road home.

“She hated Wally Gross,” McNamara said, reminding the jury of witness testimony that she poured water on him, put hot peppers in his food, left doors open to make him cold, pushed him over and punched him.

She’s charged with attempted murder, a first-degree felony, and counts of arson and aggravated arson, first- and second-degree felonies. Gross, whose trial started Jan. 12, could face up to 22 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Defense attorney Russell Buzzelli says during closing arguments Wednesday that his client, 44-year-old Carol Gross, did not set the 2012 house fire that almost killed her father-in-law, Wally Gross. Carol Gross could face up to 22 years in prison if she’s convicted on charges of attempted murder, arson and aggravated arson. (NICK GLUNT / GAZETTE)

McNamara said Gross tried to kill her father-in-law to get back at her estranged husband, Dorian Gross, for having an affair with a 17-year-old girl.

“Carol Gross is a woman who’s humiliated by her husband and overburdened by her kids and an elderly man who’s sick and she hates,” McNamara said.
McNamara advised the jurors to be skeptical of the elderly man’s testimony because his health was failing.

Wally Gross testified last week that he didn’t believe Carol Gross could have set the fire because she wasn’t home when he noticed smoke and because she wouldn’t want to set fire to her family photos.

“He was inhaling smoke, and people sometimes act strangely and remember things different when they breathe in smoke,” McNamara said. “It’s almost like being intoxicated.”

McNamara said Carol Gross showed all the signs of a guilty woman — including a “strangely calm” demeanor at the crime scene followed by “over-the-top” emotion and omitting important details when questioned by police, specifically that she purchased gasoline in 5-gallon cans right before the fire.

McNamara said one witness testified that he moved those cans — which were half-full — away from the burning home.

“Do you go to the gas station and fill up two 5-gallon cans only halfway?” McNamara asked the jury. “Does anyone do that?”

Though no traces of gasoline were found in the home, McNamara said fire investigators testified that “burn trails” in the home were consistent with gasoline poured purposely throughout the house.

“This is clear, open and shut that an ignitable liquid was used here,” he said. “You heard no evidence to contrary that this was an accidental fire.”

Gross’ attorney, Russell Buzzelli, stressed to the jury during his closing arguments that the prosecutors’ case was one of “junk science.”

“A freight train named desire meets junk science in this case,” he said. “I’m not even convinced that the state has proved this was an arson.”

Buzzelli argued that testimony from the fire investigators was unclear because none could agree on specifics. Additionally, he said they botched their investigations by failing to see whether the oven — where the fire started — ever malfunctions or was ever recalled.

“You may suspect arson, you may think it likely, but it wasn’t proven,” Buzzelli said.

He added that if the jury decided the fire was arson, they should not convict Gross because her estranged husband is the more likely suspect.

“What benefit did Carol have in killing Wally?” he asked the jury. “Dorian is the sole beneficiary in his dad’s will.”

Buzzelli said both Dorian and Carol Gross are alleged to have had affairs but now are trying to repair their marriage.

Buzzelli argued that prosecutors failed to prove their case against his client.

“These are serious, serious allegations and charges,” Buzzelli said, “and when you have these, you’ve got to have serious, serious proof — but they don’t.”

The jury will continue deliberating today.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Sarah Copley

A Lafayette Township nurse is accused of taking more than 5,000 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills last year from patients at the skilled nursing center where she worked.

Sarah E. Copley, 34, of the 5400 block of Carsten Road, was indicted in December on eight counts of theft of drugs and 15 counts of aggravated possession of drugs. She entered a plea of not guilty Jan. 8 and was released on her own recognizance, meaning she was not required to post bond.

Copley is accused of stealing drugs from eight different women at a skilled nursing center in Medina in March 2014.

Medina County Task Force Agent Tadd Davis, who specializes in pharmaceutical investigations, said he was contacted by the nursing facility to conduct an investigation. Davis said the facility was suspicious that Copley was taking the medication.

“The problem was brought to their attention by one of the resident’s family members,” Davis said. “They had an issue with one of the statements they received and thought the cost of medication was too high.”

Davis said he did not want to name the nursing center, but said the facility contacted him immediately after receiving the complaint from a family. Davis said the nursing center opened its records to him and enabled him to find the information and documents he needed to build a case against Copley.

“From what we found the patients were not going without their medication,” Davis said.

He said doctors often have standing orders for refills for patients who have chronic pain. He said Copley took advantage of that and regularly ordered refills for patients after taking their medication.

“Copley was sending in paperwork to the pharmaceutical companies to refill prescriptions for 30 or 60 pills, even if the patient had only received six doses of a 30 pack,” he said. “Sometimes she would take an entire pack of pills.”

Davis said his investigation revealed Copley ordered refills for five different patients in one day. He said staff believed she would simply go into the medical cart and take patient medications, then call in a refill to replace them. In all, his investigation indicated Copley took 5,128 pills from eight different patients at the nursing facility.

“She admitted to using a majority of them and said she shared them with her significant other,” Davis said.

Davis said Copley could face license penalties from the state board of nursing. According to the Ohio Board of Nursing, Copley was first issued an LPN license in 2005. The board has suspended Copley’s license temporarily while the investigation is conducted. Davis said if Copley is convicted, the board could pursue a permanent suspension.

A jury trial date has been set for March 9. The eight theft charges against Copley are fourth-degree felonies. Copley also faces 15 counts of aggravated possession of drugs. Eleven of the possession charges are third-degree felonies and four are fourth-degree felony charges.

The third-degree felony charges are for possession of oxycodone, a Schedule II narcotic, and the fourth-degree felony charges are for possession of hydrocodone, a Schedule III narcotic. If convicted, Copley could face up to 18 months in prison on the fourth-degree felony charges and up to three years in prison for the third-degree felony charges.

Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorengenson.

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