The ex-girlfriend of a Brunswick man accused of killing his mother testified in Medina County Common Pleas Court Tuesday, recalling an argument between the defendant, James Tench, and his mother, Mary Tench.

James Tench

James Tench, 30, faces charges of aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery and evidence tampering in the death of Mary Tench, who was reported missing on Nov. 12, 2013, and who was found dead later the same day in her Ford Escape. If convicted, James Tench could face the death penalty.

Tench was dating Christina Kyker of Euclid at the time of his mother’s disappearance. Kyker, who was called as a witness by the prosecution in the capital murder trial, testified she started dating Tench during the summer of 2013 after meeting him online. She said she often visited Mary and James Tench’s shared Camden Lane home.

During one visit, Mary Tench brought up James Tench’s credit card use while the three were eating breakfast, she said.

“She told me since we’re getting close I should know about this,” Kyker said.

Mary Tench started showing Kyker envelopes with financial information inside, stating James was using her credit cards to buy Kyker gifts such as concert tickets and clothing, Kyker testified.

“As she kept grabbing the envelopes, he grabbed her arm and she froze,” Kyker continued.

Kyker said the grab was sudden and made a slapping noise. Mary Tench looked scared and walked away and James Tench went to his room, she said.

During defense attorney Rhonda Kotnik’s questioning, Kyker said she followed James Tench and talked to him. He soon calmed down and Tench and his mother made up, she said.

“James and Mary hugged and they cried together,” Kotnik said, which Kyker confirmed.

In the days following the discovery of Mary Tench’s body, police found her financial documents in both James’ and her bedrooms, one of the prosecution’s witnesses, Brunswick police Officer Greg Hayest, said.

Hayest said police found a bank statement for Mary Tench’s account between the mattress and box spring of what police believe was James Tench’s room. Police found digital copies of Mary Tench’s checks in the master bedroom, which was believed to be her room, Hayest testified. At least one check was made out to James Tench. Dates, check numbers and dollar amounts written in the margins of a newspaper found in Mary Tench’s closet correspond to the digital copies, Hayest said.

Police also found the words “Leave, tell police” on a Target envelope left on James Tench’s nightstand, Hayest continued.

During a pretrial hearing, county Prosecutor Dean Holman pointed to these items as evidence that James Tench was stealing from his mother and Mary Tench knew about it.

Hayest said he also found several items in a garbage bag inside the house including duct tape packaging, which prosecutors allege is the same brand as the duct tape found around Mary Tench’s neck when her body was discovered.

However, Hayest said he did not see any sign of a struggle inside the house when defense attorney Kerry O’Brien questioned him.

Several of Tench’s co-workers at his former places of employment — the Strongsville and Fairlawn locations of Old Carolina Barbecue — also testified for the prosecution Tuesday.

Tench was convicted in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court after pleading guilty to robbing the Strongsville restaurant in October 2013. He was arrested on the robbery charges after police searched the home following the discovery of Mary Tench’s body. James Tench has been serving a five-year sentence in the Richland Correctional Institution since 2014.

Several of his superiors at the barbecue called him a hard worker and recalled Tench talking about his mother. Old Carolina Barbecue franchise director John Casey said Tench told him his mother was dying of cancer, despite reportedly telling Brunswick Officer Christopher Scafidi his mother had no medical issues when he filed a missing persons report.

“He said she had cancer and she was dying, which was one of the reasons he was living at home,” Casey said.

Casey — who was questioned by police about nine months after the discovery of Mary Tench’s body — testified that during the fall Tench started complaining about his mother.

“He said she was driving him crazy and he couldn’t stay there anymore,” Casey said.

Sarah Morgan, an employee at Old Carolina Barbecue, said she reported Tench to management in the fall of 2013 after he told her he hated his mother.

The manager at the time, Juan Parilla, said two employees complained about Tench’s statement. He added the employees also reported that Tench said he wanted to kill his mother, which Morgan denied.

Both Morgan and Parilla were interviewed by police about nine months after the incident, the defense pointed out.

Parilla testified he talked to Tench after the complaint and Tench didn’t deny the report of the other employees.

“He laughed and said, ‘Well, she might as well be,’ ” Parilla said.

“Might as well be dead,” Parilla clarified.

The jury trial continues today before Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler.

The jury heard testimony Wednesday in the capital murder trial of James Tench that his mother, Mary, possibly was run over by her own vehicle.

Special Agent George Edward Staley Jr. of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation described suspected blood stains on the Ford SUV where Mary Tench’s body was found and several other areas during his testimony in the third day of James Tench’s trial.

ELIZABETH DOBBINS / GAZETTE
Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman and defense attorney Kerry O’Brien listen as Special Agent George Edward Stanley Jr. describes a photo of the Ford Escape where police discovered Mary Tench’s body.

Tench, 30, is charged with aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery and evidence tampering in the November 2013 death of his mother. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Since 2014, Tench has been serving a five-year sentence at Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield on a robbery conviction in Cuyahoga County.

Mary Tench’s body was found face down in the trunk of her SUV off Carquest Drive, not far from the Camden Lane home she shared with James, according to several witness accounts so far in the case.

Staley said the location of Mary Tench’s body in the SUV had the heaviest concentration of suspected blood stains, but several other areas throughout the Ford also tested positive for blood.

Staley testified the back hatch door, the front driver’s seat, the front bumper, the radiator and the undercarriage also tested positive. The front license plate frame and bumper were slightly cracked, Staley said.

A red fabric fiber also was found attached to the undercarriage of the car, Staley said. Mary Tench was found wearing a red jacket, which had several tears and abrasions, testified another witness for the prosecution, Lisa Przepyszny. She is a forensic scientist with the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiners Office.

“For that blood to transfer to underneath the vehicle, the person would have to be under the car,” county Prosecutor Dean Holman said in court.

Staley agreed that Holman’s statement would be consistent with a person being run over.

Tench’s defense attorney Kerry O’Brien objected on several bases, including whether Staley — who is assigned to the crime scene unit at BCI — had the credentials to reconstruct an accident.

ELIZABETH DOBBINS / GAZETTE
Defense attorneys Rhonda Kotnik and Kerry O’Brien discuss the trial while defendant James Tench sits nearby.

“I don’t think it takes accident recreation,” Holman said. “You got multiple substances on the underneath of the bumper that is determined to be blood.”

Staley said it can happen on rare occasions that the field test that determines if a substance is blood will give false positives. The same test also does not differentiate between animal and human blood, he said.

“At this point we don’t know whose blood this is,” O’Brien said.

More lab and forensic testimony is expected later in trial.

Staley also testified he performed a different test on one stain in the car — the radiator stain — and the test came back positive for human blood. A blood stain on a pair of boots, delivered to Staley by the Brunswick Police Department, also tested positive for human blood. It was unclear in court Wednesday where the police department found the boots.

O’Brien said without tests, the blood on the front bumper easily could belong to a deer that was run over, which Staley agreed was a possibility. The defense attorney applied a similar argument to blood spots found in the bed of James Tench’s Ford F-150.

“Hunters or people who deal with the meat of animals might use the bed of the truck,” O’Brien said.

The date of the blood stains or damage to the SUV’s front bumper cannot be determined, Staley said.

Staley also described several other spots in the areas he investigated that tested positive for blood. He described suspicious stains on the sidewalk and porch leading to the Tench home, on the washing machine and kitchen sink inside the home and on the inside panel of the Ford truck’s driver-side door.

He said the doors and windows of the Camden Lane home showed no sign of forced entry. Staley also said he was unable to get prints from smudges on the Ford Escape windows despite the smooth surface, which makes lifting prints easier.

“Water can keep us from getting good prints,” Staley said. “The vehicle was outside for an extended period of time.”

Mary Tench’s purse was found in a retention pond near the Ford Explorer with her credit cards and about $90 inside, Staley said.

The trial continues Friday before Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler.

WILKINSBURG, Pa. — Police were searching early Thursday for at least two gunmen who opened fire during a backyard party in suburban Pittsburgh, killing five people and wounding three others.

Four women and a man were killed late Wednesday during the party in Wilkinsburg. Allegheny County police said people scrambled toward the house as bullets began flying. Four of the victims were found dead on the back porch. The other died at a hospital.

Two men were in critical condition and a woman was stable, police said.

Lt. Andrew Schurman of the Allegheny County homicide unit said the gunmen barged into the party just before 11 p.m. and opened fire in an ambush-style attack. He said gunshots came from two distinct locations, but police don’t believe anyone at the party fired back.

“It looks like right now they were all fleeing toward the backdoor of the residence when the second gunman fired from the side of the yard,” he said. “They all seemed to get caught on the back porch.”

The suspects fled on foot.

Wilkinsburg is a poorer, largely blighted suburb just east of Pittsburgh that is known for drug trafficking and gun violence. But, neighbors described the street on which the shooting occurred as generally quiet and expressed shock.

Resident Kayla Alexander told WPXI-TV that she heard a barrage of gunshots — more than 20.

After the shooting, groups of residents gathered on the street, some of them sobbing and saying they lost family members.

James Boyd, 70, has lived in a home three doors away from the shooting for 24 years. He told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the gunfire “went on for almost a minute.”

“I thought it was maybe the pipes bursting. But then we realized it was gunshots. We’ve had trouble in this neighborhood before but never this close to home,” Boyd said. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

The post Five dead after shooting in suburban Pittsburgh; multiple suspects sought appeared first on Chronicle-Telegram.

Residents of a Brunswick apartment complex called firefighters just after 4 a.m. Thursday morning when they awoke to a blaze — the city’s second major fire at an apartment building in 72 hours.

“My whole apartment is on fire,” one caller told a dispatcher during a 911 call.  “I was sleeping and I just happened to wake up and something was on fire.”

ELIZABETH DOBBINS / GAZETTE A Brunswick fire Thursday morning caused smoke stains above a second floor window.

The Brunswick Fire Department responded to Laurel Hill Apartment complex, 4405 Laurel Road on the city’s southwest side, within four to five minutes, Fire Chief Jim Baird said.  The blaze was contained in five to eight minutes and declared under control within 15 minutes after arrival.

Within that time, one apartment was destroyed and 11 others were damaged, displacing the residents.

One resident was hospitalized for smoke inhalation, according to a press release. The resident’s identity and condition were not available Thursday night. Also, the dollar value of the estimated damage was not available.

The Brunswick Police Department and fire departments from Hinckley, Strongsville, and Valley City assisted at the scene.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by a 21-member community group called the Southwest Emergency Response Team. Baird said the fire does not appear to be linked to the Monday night blaze about three miles away at another Brunswick apartment complex.

“At this time we do not believe they are connected,” Baird said.

The fire Monday night took place at Hickory Hill Apartments at Hemlock Court near Pearl Road on the city’s north side. A 4-year-old girl, Keagan Taylor Sullivan, was killed in the blaze and there were seven injuries, including one firefighter hurt. The community responded with what Father Bob Stec of St. Ambrose Catholic Parish called an “outpouring” of support with hundreds of donations of food, clothes and gift cards to be given to displaced families.

The parish received more donations than the victims of the first fire could use, so Stec said some of the items now will be donated to the about 40 people affected by Thursday’s blaze.

“We are using all the resources already collected,” Stec said.

The parish, which has run out of room in its food pantry, is now only accepting cash or gift card donations. St. Ambrose’s Catholic Works of Mercy project manager Jeff Trush said Thursday that restaurant gift cards are helpful for affected families who don’t have a kitchen to cook meals.

“They lost everything,” he said. “They have no place to cook.”

The American Red Cross’ Northeast Ohio unit provided vouchers for hotel rooms to the families of the Laurel Hill fire. Trush and Mary Williams, Red Cross regional communication coordinator, said their organizations are getting families on the path to recovery.

“In a couple of days the media will die down on this and where will these people be left?” Trush said.

Williams said, “Recovering from something like this is a long run. It’s not a sprint by any means.”

The Red Cross recommends checking smoke alarms monthly and changing the batteries every six months. On average, Williams said three families are displaced by house fires each night in Northeast Ohio.

“This is not unusual at all unfortunately,” she said.

Prosecutors showed videos in court Tuesday of police interviews with a Brunswick man accused of killing his mother where he denies any knowledge of the events leading to her November 2013 disappearance and death.

The videos offered as evidence in the capital murder trial of James Tench, 30, show him speaking about his mother, Mary Tench, the same afternoon he learned she was found dead in her SUV about a half mile from their shared Brunswick home on Nov. 12, 2013.

James Tench

“You said you found her dead, so obviously something happened, so you accused me of murdering my mom, which I did not do,” Tench told police on the video.

“She called me and I was asleep and I couldn’t help her,” Tench said, referring to a call from his mother’s phone made at 11:51 the previous evening. “Do you know what it’s like? I’ve been blaming myself all day for missing that phone call.”

Tench is accused of aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery and evidence tampering. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Brunswick Det. Dean Weinhardt testified Tench became a suspect within hours of when he reported his mother missing to police. Weinhardt said the missing person’s case drew his attention initially because Tench had become a suspect in an armed robbery at a Strongsville restaurant. Tench pleaded guilty to robbery charges and is currently serving a five-year sentence in Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield on that conviction.

Weinhardt also was alerted by the hiring of a private investigator by members of Mary Tench’s extended family less than 12 hours after James Tench said his mother failed to return home from work.

“In my 28 years in law enforcement, there had never been a private investigator involved that early on in the case,” Weinhardt said.

Sara Verespej, Mary Tench’s niece, said she was in communication with James Tench the morning of Nov. 12 and hired a private investigator at her parents’ request. She testified her parents contacted her after James Tench notified them of Mary Tench’s disappearance.

“The story that they had (from James Tench) didn’t make sense,” she said.

She testified she thought James Tench was being untruthful when he explained he didn’t hurt his mother.

“He told me he had just buried his father, why would he do anything to his mother?” Verespej said.

She said she also was suspicious when Tench told her he was washing the floors of his house because Mary Tench previously had asked him to clean them.

Several law enforcement officers previously testified to seeing a carpet cleaner in the home during Nov. 12 and Nov. 13 visits.

Verespej said she rarely interacted with James Tench and defense attorney Rhonda Kotnik suggested Verespej wouldn’t know how he responds when he is upset.

Weinhardt and fellow Brunswick Detective Brian Schmitt said James Tench’s behavior was unusual when they arrived at his house after their unsuccessful search for his mother’s car in Brunswick.

Weinhardt said Tench didn’t answer his phone any of the three times it rang during their talk and, while walking through the kitchen, said, “I forgot about that,” while looking down at two car keys, a buck knife and piece of paper.

When Weinhardt asked him if he was involved in her disappearance, the detective said Tench’s face turned red and his nostrils flared. Weinhardt testified that Tench replied in a low monotone voice, “No, I would not harm my mother.”

“It was eerie,” Weinhardt said.

Weinhardt said Tench later started talking about his mother as if she were dead, though police had not located her or her car at that time.

“He said, ‘I want to know who did this to her,’ ” and added he did not want to bury his mother, Weinhardt testified.

Weinhardt said he spoke to Tench four times Nov. 12, and he said parts of Tench’s story changed — including what time he woke up in the morning, whether he found footprints in the neighborhood and how many of the family’s four dogs escaped that morning.

Tench told police that while looking for the dogs, he found footprints in his backyard leading along the side of the house near where police later found a metal wedge. Weinhardt said Tench walked directly through the footprints, destroying them while he was showing police.

Defense attorney Kerry O’Brien pointed out police never told him not to walk through the footprints. O’Brien added that during the first visit to the Tenches’ Camden Lane home, James Tench willingly gave him a tour of the house, during which investigators didn’t find any blood. He also was cooperative during subsequent interviews, O’Brien said.

“All through this first visit he doesn’t get in the way at all,” O’Brien said.

Schmitt said he received a call about the discovery of Mary Tench’s car and the two detectives left the Tench home, telling James Tench the call was unrelated to his mother.

When they returned after finding Mary Tench’s body, they detained James Tench at gunpoint based on his previous statements and his slowness to exit the house, Weinhardt said.

Tench had left the house to purchase shampoo and a car charger while the detectives were away, Weinhardt said. When asked why he went out, Weinhardt testified Tench said he was looking for whoever might have been responsible for his mother’s disappearance. But, Weinhardt said, when he left the house police had not yet notified him of his mother’s death.

“He either did it or knew who did it at that point,” Weinhardt said.

O’Brien questioned Weinhardt’s suspicion.

“You already have it fairly implanted at that time that James was suspect No. 1,” O’Brien said.

Verespej said detectives told her they also were investigating Mary Tench’s daughter, Jennifer Swain, and her husband.

Swain will testify for the defense later during the trial, despite the objection of county Prosecutor Dean Holman.

“If the defense is going to put that young lady on the stand and accuse her of murdering her mother, we’re going to object strenuously,” Holman said.

Several items, including Tench’s phone and boots — which later tested positive for Mary Tench’s blood, according to evidence presented — were collected from the house and Tench was transported to the police station.

During two different interviews, he talked about his responsibility to care for his mother, even though evidence appeared to show they didn’t get along. He told police as a teenager he punched his father after his father slapped Mary Tench.

Tench asked Weinhardt to let him break the news of his mother’s death to his sister in a manner that O’Brien described as emotional. But Weinhardt said, for the most part, he did not believe Tench’s interviews showed real anguish.

“He was trying to show emotion but it seemed like he was having trouble doing so,” Weinhardt said.

Again, the defense reminded the jury that Weinhardt didn’t know Tench and didn’t have a basis to judge his emotion.

The trial will continue today in Judge Joyce V. Kimbler’s courtroom.

The Brunswick Hills Township police levy appeared to be heading to defeat with 95.73 percent of  votes tabulated by the Medina County Board of Elections. The unofficial voting was tight: 1,374 against the levy and 1,307 in favor.

Brunswick Hills trustees put the five-year, 2.5 mill levy on the ballot after a larger continuous 3.25-mill levy failed on the November ballot last year. The 2.5-mill levy would raise $624,900 each year and cost an owner of a $100,000 house $87.50 annually, according to figures from the Medina County Auditor’s Office.

Brunswick Hills Police Chief Tim Sopkovich has said the levy is necessary to maintain operations in a township whose population has almost doubled in the past 15 years from 5,469 residents in 2000 to 10,054 residents in 2014.

According to the Brunswick Hills Police Department, failure of the levy would mean reductions in police department personnel, delayed response times, reduction in drug and drunken-driving enforcement, the discontinuation of the department’s community policing programs and reduced mutual aid for surrounding departments.

Sopkovich previously recommended hiring a part-time officer to reduce overtime expenses. He also suggested bringing in more revenue through writing more citations, installing a speed camera or charging for repeated false house or business alarms.

The police department is funded by revenue from two continuing levies — a 2.25-mill levy that passed in 2002 and a 3-mill levy that passed in 2008. Together they provide $1.22 million each year.

The prosecution in the trial of a Brunswick man accused of killing his mother rested its case Wednesday after a police detective testified he believes evidence shows Mary Tench was killed by someone close to her and not a stranger.

“This appeared to be personal in nature,” Brunswick Detective Brian Schmitt testified.

ELIZABETH DOBBINS / THE GAZETTE
Defense attorney Kerry O’Brien questions Brunswick Det. Brian Schmitt at the trial of a Brunswick man accused of killing his mother. Medina County assistant prosecutor Michael McNamara watches.

James Tench, 30, is charged with aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery and evidence tampering in the November 2013 death of his mother, Mary, who was 55.

Schmitt said he began to suspect a family member was involved in Mary Tench’s death early on in his investigation. He explained his suspicions were based on the presence of duct tape around Mary Tench’s mouth or neck and the absence of evidence that would suggest other motives.

Mary Tench’s purse was found under ice in a Brunswick retention pond near her Ford SUV where her body was discovered, according to testimonies from law enforcement officials. The purse had more than $90 and several credit cards inside, suggesting the motive for the crime was not robbery, Schmitt said.

The deputy medical examiner from the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office, Erica Armstrong, said Mary Tench’s autopsy did not provide any evidence of sexual assault.

Armstrong ruled the death a homicide caused by multiple blunt impacts to the body. She said Mary Tench received a minimum of 18 blows to the head.

“The major mechanism in this case is bleeding … in addition to injury to the brain tissue,” Armstrong said.

County Prosecutor Dean Holman suggested Mary Tench forcefully was grabbed prior to her death and run over by her own car. After taking into consideration blood found on the front bumper, undercarriage and radiator of her SUV, Armstrong said this scenario “cannot be excluded” as a cause of death.

Defense attorney Kerry O’Brien argued the examiner who completed the autopsy concluded Mary Tench was not run over by a car.

Armstrong — who did not complete the autopsy, but reviewed the report — said that given the additional information about Mary Tench’s blood on the SUV, it seemed possible the car was involved in her death.

O’Brien previously suggested the investigation was too hasty in its focus on James Tench, who was detained by police the day his mother’s body was found.

Schmitt testified James Tench’s sister, Jennifer Swain, and her husband, Matthew Swain, also were investigated, but cleared after investigators established their whereabouts the night of Nov. 11 and the morning of Nov. 12, 2013.

Cellphone records show Matthew Swain was at work in Portage County. He used his wife’s car that night because his car was being repaired, leaving Jennifer Swain without a vehicle at their Montville Township home. The Swains’ house is about 10 miles from Mary and James Tench’s Camden Lane home in Brunswick.

Similar cellphone records also show Tench made several calls to his girlfriend, Christina Kyker, and one to his girlfriend’s brother about his mother’s disappearance. The calls were placed between 1:22 a.m. and 2:02 a.m. the morning of Nov. 12, Schmitt testified.

James Tench didn’t call his mother’s phone for the first time until 2:03 a.m., despite telling Kyker he had called his mother and law enforcement, Schmitt said.

James Tench is serving a five-year sentence at the Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield for a 2014 robbery at a restaurant in Strongsville.

The defense will start calling witnesses when the trial resumes Monday before Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler.

A 36-year-old man was taken into custody for a suspected methamphetamine lab in his Brunswick home Wednesday afternoon, according to the Medway Drug Enforcement Agency.

Jason Cubic

Agents from Medway arrested Jason Cubic, 36, of the 1829 Rocklyn Drive, where agents found items allegedly involved in meth production, a news release said. The house is about 900 feet from Applewood Elementary School.

Medway is multijurisdictional task force for Wayne and Medina counties that operates out of the Wayne County sheriff’s office.

Charges against Cubic are pending. Medway Senior Agent Jason Waddell said the charges are expected to be manufacturing meth, illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of meth and illegal possession of meth. Waddell said the agency is also investigating possible child endangering charges, though no child was present at the time of the search.

“We are trying to determine if a child was (living) there,” he said.

The Adult Parole Authority — which is monitoring Cubic after previous meth conviction — suspected Cubic was manufacturing meth and requested Medway and Brunswick police officers to accompany their staff on a home visit around 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Medway agents, wearing protective equipment, identified several of the items found inside the house as related to the manufacture of meth, according to the agency. Investigation of the house and clean-up took six hours, including the participation of a bomb squad.

The South East Enforcement Bureau squad arrived after Medway agents found three pressurized containers containing an unknown substance.

ELIZABETH DOBBINS / GAZETTE
Authorities investigated and cleaned up an alleged meth lab at 1829 Rocklyn Dr. in Brunswick Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities feared they were improvised explosive devices. The squad disposed of the containers, which Waddell said were unusual meth cooking devices and not bombs.

The Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s unit based in Richfield in Summit County and the Brunswick Fire Department arrived on the scene to assist with clean-up.

Evidence collected at the scene will be sent to BCI and the State Fire Marshal’s laboratory for testing, according to the news release.

According to property listings on the Medina County Auditor’s website, the three-bedroom house is owned by Phyllis Cubic, who is the mother of Jason Cubic, Waddell said. It was unclear if his mother currently lives in the house.

In 2008, Jason Cubic pleaded no contest in Medina Common Pleas Court after an anonymous tip and investigation led members of the Medina County Drug Task Force to believe Cubic was manufacturing meth in the garage of 1829 Rocklyn Drive, according to court documents.

Cubic was sentenced to six years in prison on charges involving the illegal manufacture of a controlled substance near a school, illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of meth and illegal possession of meth. His 2011 appeal of the case was overruled.

In 2002 he was convicted on charges of heroin possession.

A Granger Township fire that killed a woman last year has been ruled an accident by the Ohio Fire Marshal’s office.

Janet Watson, 62, died after a blaze broke out in her condominium unit at 171 Granger Road just after midnight on Dec. 28, firefighters said.

The fire was “caused by the improper use and/or disposal of smoking materials,” according to Bill Krugh, a spokesman for the State Fire Marshal’s office.

Granger Township Fire Chief Jim Paulett had previously told The Gazette that neighbors did not hear the fire alarm and the unit was likely burning for some time before authorities were notified.

Watson was still inside when members of the Granger and Bath Township fire departments arrived. She was removed from the house and died at the scene.

Watson’s sister, Sue McCanna, remembered Watson as an animal lover and loving family member.

Watson was born in Akron and graduated from Wadsworth High School, according to her obituary. She had two children with her late husband Charles William Bryant Watson II — Sarah Doshna who died in 2010, and Charles William Bryant Watson III of Wadsworth.

She is survived by her sister, McCanna, her son-in-law Jeff Doshna, and three grandchildren — Noah, Benjamin and Samuel Doshna, her obituary said.

About 100 parents and faculty cheered on students at the Medina Community Recreation Center on Thursday afternoon in a March Madness youth basketball championship game.

ASHLEY FOX / GAZETTE Waite Elementary coach Joe Ortenzi takes a “silly selfie” with his team and Principal Cindy Grice after winning The Medina County Police Activities League’s March Madness championship game.

The tournament, sponsored by the Medina County Police Activities League, was a monthlong event that was co-ed and open to students in fifth grade at seven of the Medina’s elementary schools; Heritage, Ralph Waite, Garfield, H.G. Blake, Northrop, Ella Canavan and Sidney Fenn.

The Montville Township Police Department conceived the tournament in 2010. Chief Terry Grice, who is also the executive director of the league, said the program helps get youths involved with the department.

“The kids love it. It’s a great way to have a great relationship with elementary kids,” he said as he watched the game.

The tournament
The tournament began with fifth-grade students signing up at school, with the first 28 making the team. From there, they play each other in games within their schools, then they play other schools. There are seven schools and eight teams, allowing one school to play twice. Games lasted four quarters, and each quarter lasts for eight minutes.

Overall, the program lasted about four weeks, from February into March.

Leading up to Thursday’s event, there were two weeks of practice and one week of tournaments in the students’ home school.

Medina Probate and Juvenile Court Judge Kevin Dunn started the game, tossing up the opening tip-off.

“This is a first-step process to get kids involved, to do something, rather than have an idle time on their hands,” he said. The program is a tool used to build a rapport, with the kids realizing they can talk to and trust the police officers.

The organizers said the winter basketball tournament also gives students a chance to play sports when they might not otherwise be able to afford it. Along with Judge Dunn’s court, the activities league coordinates with police departments from Brunswick, Lodi, Medina, Montville and Wadsworth.

Thursday’s game was a rematch from 2015’s final as Ella Canavan and Waite Elementary teams reached the final, but with a new set of fifth graders. Waite Elementary defeated Ella Canavan, 48-31.

There were more than just proud parents and mentors at the game. Montville Township trustee Sally Albrecht was in the stands, cheering away.

“We are so fortunate to have staff members like Chief Grice because he does so much for the community, above and beyond his job description,” Albrecht said. As a trustee overseeing a variety of township activities, she said this program is something kids respond well to.

Police Activities League
Grice said the Police Activities League meets at each of the seven schools twice a week for an hour and a half. They do various activities, including having snacks, exercise and recreation, and going to Cleveland Cavaliers games, and taking trips to the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland.

Grice said that while it’s a positive experience for the volunteers, parents and community, it’s even greater for the kids.

“It’s not about us. It’s about the kids,” he said.

The Police Activities League, run by a board of directors, was started by the city of Medina in 2007 and taken over by Grice and his group in 2010.

Montville Officer Dave Pinkas of the works as a resource and officer in the seven schools as well as a D.A.R.E. officer, said this is a “great way for the kids to become actively engaged with officers at an early age.”

Besides basketball, everyone agreed students can get excited about projects that involve the police.

“A lot of issues coming through our courts are from kids not having positive activity,” Dunn said.

The capital murder trial of James Tench, the Brunswick man accused of killing his mother in 2013, entered its fourth week with Tench taking the witness stand.

Tench, 30, is charged with aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery and evidence tampering in the Nov. 13, 2013, death of Mary Tench, 55. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

ASHLEY FOX / GAZETTE
James Tench takes the stand on Monday in the murder trial of his mother, Mary Tench of Brunswick. James was arrested in connection with his mother’s death.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations when court resumes at 9 a.m. today before Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler.

Tench already is serving a five-year prison sentence at the Richland Correctional Institute in Mansfield for a restaurant robbery in Strongsville.

Defense lawyers Kerry O’Brien and Rhonda Kotnik attempted to show the jury Monday that Tench had explanations for personal difficulties in his life that were occurring in late 2013.

The line of questioning covered events in the days leading up to when Mary Tench’s body was found Nov. 12, 2013, in her SUV about a half mile from the Brunswick home she shared with her son.

Tench answered questions from defense and prosecution lawyers for more than three hours in the morning and afternoon sessions.

In testimony about his relationship with ex-girlfriend Christina Kyker, Tench said he supplied her with a debit card linked to his bank account. He testified he would spend only what money he made, but when she had access to his account, she spent what he made and more, causing his account to become overdrawn multiple times.

Tench was asked why he didn’t close his account or stop Kyker from using the debit card. Tench replied that Kyker had convinced him not to take the card away from her, but he was going to do so eventually anyway.

Tench said he saw his mother writing checks to pay bills prior to her disappearance. He said he was forging checks belonging to her without her knowledge, which is why he robbed the restaurant in Strongsville. He said he wanted to replenish some money to her account.

He also was asked why he didn’t go to his mother right away about the money issues, but instead tried to cover everything up.

Tench replied his mother died not know that he had robbed the restaurant and he didn’t know why he didn’t speak to her about finances.

County Prosecutor Dean Holman asked Tench whether he had rehearsed the answers he gave to questions from his lawyers.

“Yes, a little,” Tench replied.

The morning lineup of defense witnesses included a friend of Mary Tench; James’ deceased father’s brother, Gregory Tench; a childhood friend and her mother; and a clergyman affiliated with the Cuyahoga County Jail.

Gregory Tench testified he was hunting in Arkansas when he found out from his nephew James that Mary Tench was missing. He said he packed up as soon as he could and headed to Ohio. Gregory Tench said he thought James sounded distraught because his mother was missing.

Cheryl Turner, a friend of Mary Tench, testified that holidays at the Tench home on Camden Lane in Brunswick weren’t anything out of the ordinary and that family members talked with one another “like normal.”

Also Monday, the subject of Mary Tench’s health was brought up.

Mary Tench was scheduled to have a procedure to remove a cyst from her ovary, which James Tench said doctors initially were unsure was cancerous. He said tests later showed the cyst was benign.

Tench said he called his sister, Jennifer Swain, to try to convince their mother to go to the doctor right away. But Mary declined, saying she would have the doctor look at a different problem involving her nose when she went in for her procedure.

According to James Tench, Mary “banged up her face” when she fell going to get the newspaper in the driveway of their Brunswick home. She put on her deceased husband’s boots, a men’s size 11, went outside and fell in the driveway, injuring her nose the day before the gynecological procedure.

Turner, Mary Tench’s best friend since college, told the jury she agreed to take Mary to her procedure. Under questioning from defense lawyers, she said she noticed a scab on Mary’s nose in 2013, but it could have been a few months before the procedure took place.

James Tench’s childhood friend, Felicia Fedarko, formerly of Brunswick and now from Olmsted Falls, testified they were “best friends since sixth or seventh grade.” She said she and James “hung out” on a daily basis growing up.

Fedarko said she never observed Tench criticizing or acting  mean to his mother during their friendship.

In July 2013, however, they lost contact because of Kyker. Fedarko said she and Kyker never met.

Fedarko said she heard through mutual friends in November 2013 about Tench being arrested, so she reached out to him. She testified she wrote him letters “when it all started,” also communicating by phone at times.

Fedarko’s mother, Diane Fedarko of Brunswick, also took the stand Monday.

Diane Fedarko said James Tench had babysat her grandchild, Felicia’s son, when the child was 4 or 5 years old.

She explained that when she found out Mary Tench was missing, it was through her daughter’s friends.

When the Fedarkos were able to contact James Tench, Diane Fedarko said he was upset and scared, echoing Gregory Tench’s comments about how James acted during visits and phone calls.

Diane Fedarko and Mary Tench never met during their children’s friendship, she said.

Earlier in the morning, the Rev. Neil Walters, a chaplain at the Cuyahoga County Jail, testified.

In the time he’s known James Tench, Walters said he observed that Tench “was friendly and stressed … and we had nice chats. He didn’t scare me away.”

He added that he and Tench met regularly, about every week. Tench, being Catholic, received sacraments and Walters said they would pray together.

The chaplain said inmates “don’t have to be a card-carrying Catholic” to pray with or perform religious acts.

The defense attorney in James Tench’s murder trial asked jurors Tuesday to keep in mind that Tench is a “flawed character,” but not a killer.

“Mr. Tench was trying to turn his life around,” Kerry O’Brien told the jury in his closing arguments.

James Tench

Tench, 30, of Brunswick, is charged with aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery and evidence tampering in the Nov. 13, 2013, death of his mother, Mary Tench, who was 55. If convicted, Tench could face the death penalty.

The trial was in its fourth week before Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler when the jury began deliberating Tench’s fate Tuesday. The jury of eight women and four men, who were sequestered for the night at a local hotel, will resume deliberations today.

In his closing arguments Tuesday, county Assistant Prosecutor Michael McNamara told the jury that while there was a lot of information to remember during their deliberations, they should use common sense in deciding a verdict.

“It’s not about the quantity of evidence. It’s about the quality,” McNamara said.

County Prosecutor Dean Holman noted approximately 40 pieces of evidence were presented in the trial.

O’Brien reminded the jury that the reason Tench robbed a restaurant while Mary Tench was still alive was so he could give money back to her.

The mother and son lived together in a house on Camden Lane in Brunswick. James Tench is serving a five-year prison sentence at the Richland Correctional Institute in Mansfield for his conviction in a restaurant robbery in Strongsville in October 2013.

During the trial, jurors were presented with evidence attempting to show that Tench had access to his mother’s checkbook and forged checks.

O’Brien said that although Tench lied to people about the robbery and stealing, that did not make him a killer.

The murder trial of James Tench concluded in the early afternoon on Wednesday with a guilty verdict on all counts. He is eligible for the death penalty.

Tench — who is accused of killing his mother, Mary Tench, in Nov. 2013 — was found guilty on eight counts including three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, one count of aggravated robbery and one count of evidence tampering.

The case now moves into what Judge Joyce V. Kimbler called “mitigation,” in which Tench’s attorneys may present witnesses to the jury for consideration in sentencing.

A hearing is scheduled for April 4.

A Persian cat breeder’s animal cruelty charges are related to earlier charges filed against the woman accused of leaving three cats in a Brunswick parking lot, according to a Wednesday decision by Medina Municipal Judge Dale H. Chase.

Chase approved joining Trixxe McCowin’s two active Medina Municipal Court cases into one trial.

“Allegedly, the factual circumstances and offenses are essentially part of a continued pattern of conduct,” Chase said.

McCowin, 42, of Montville Township, faced charges of animal abandonment and criminal trespass after police found three cats in a restaurant parking lot on Town Center Boulevard last November.

In early February, a new case against McCowin involving animal cruelty charges was filed in Medina Municipal Court. McCowin has plead not guilty to all charges, which are misdemeanors.

Prosecuting attorney Jeff Holland said the animal cruelty charges are based on a veterinarian’s report regarding the examination of the three cats. The report’s slow turnover time caused the delay, he said.

“It took some time to get a report from the veterinarian,” Holland said.

The cats found in the parking lot were dirty and ill, according to a police report. One was euthanized and another needed an eye removed because of an infection, humane officer Kate Marshall told police. Marshall is with the Medina County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“The veterinarian’s opinion is it would have taken a period of time for the neglect to get to this point,” Holland said in court.

The violation date for the animal cruelty charges was listed as Oct. 1, in court documents — about a month and a half before the Nov. 13 discovery of the cats in the parking lot.

A witness told police he saw a woman in a yellow Hummer stop her car, place a small animal kennel in the parking lot and drive away, according to a report. Holland said the eyewitness and security video helped Brunswick Animal Control Officer Mike Kellum, who investigated the case, link McCowin to the cage.

Holland said neither he nor McCowin’s attorney, Colin Meeker, had received any security videos related to the incident from police.

Chase warned that the restaurant at Town Center Boulevard might record over the tapes and urged Holland to request the tapes from the restaurant.

“If these videos are lost because no one has actually bothered to go out and get them, I would find that disturbing,” Chase said.

The date for McCowin’s next appearance in Medina Municipal Court had not been set as of Wednesday afternoon.

A Rittman man pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated vehicular assault after a February car crash left a 5-year-old boy with a fractured skull.

Keir McQuistan, 48, of the 100 block of Joshua Drive, Rittman, faces two counts of vehicular assault — one a third-degree felony and the other a fourth-degree felony.

ELIZABETH DOBBINS / GAZETTE
Defense attorney V. Lee Winchell stands with his client Keir McQuistan who is accused of aggravated vehicular assault.

According to a report from the Ohio Highway Patrol, McQuistan’s truck rear-ended a Ford Fusion stopped at the intersection of Greenwich and Hubbard Valley roads in Guilford Township the early evening of Feb. 13.

Ashley Lamphear and John Robinson of Seville said they were riding in the front seat of the Fusion with their  5-year-old son, Bradyn Robinson, in the back.

Lamphear and Robinson were treated the same night at Medina Hospital, but Bradyn was transported from Medina Hospital to Akron Children’s Hospital where he underwent a 6 ½-hour surgery for a multiple skull fractures the next day.

McQuistan was also taken to Medina Hospital.

At the time of the crash, state troopers reported that McQuistan appeared to be drunk, but he refused a breath test, saying he did not trust it, the report said. Robinson told troopers McQuistan exited his car after the crash, asked Robinson why he was stopped in the middle of the road. McQuistan then urinated on his own vehicle, Robinson said.

Robinson is suing McQuistan and requesting $25,000 in damages for failing “to use ordinary care” while driving, according to court documents.

McQuistan is free on a $25,000 bond. During his appearance Thursday in Medina County Common Pleas Court, assistant prosecuting attorney Michael McNamara asked Judge Joyce V. Kimbler to require that McQuistan wear an alcohol monitor.

McQuistan’s defense attorney, V. Lee Winchell, argued McQuistan should not be required to wear the device since he has no prior alcohol-related convictions. He also has no other convictions in Medina Common Pleas or Municipal Court, according to court records.

Kimbler ordered McQuistan to wear the monitor and set his trial for 9 a.m. May 23. His pretrial is set for 8:30 a.m. May 16.

A Wadsworth Township man who cracked the skull of one corrections officer and assaulted another was sentenced to three years in prison in Medina Common Pleas Court on Thursday.

Seth D.J. Rupp

Seth Rupp, 23, of 10100 Ruth Drive, Wadsworth, pleaded no contest to one count of felonious assault of the second degree and one fifth-degree felony count of assault. He received three years in prison with credit for 132 days served for the first charge and one year for the second charge. The charges will be served simultaneously.

Two corrections officers were trying to move Rupp from his cell at Medina County Jail for violating jail rules March 7, 2015, Medina County Sheriff’s Capt. Ken Baca told the Gazette last November. A fight broke out after Rupp refused to cooperate and officers used pepper spray to disable him, Baca said.

Medina County prosecuting attorney Dean Holman said that during the scuffle Rupp assaulted a male officer, Joseph Henthorn, and punched a female officer, Dennise Pasquerella, in the face fracturing her skull.

“She was unable to work for a significant period of time,” Holman said. “She was unable to watch TV.”

Assistant prosecuting attorney Michael McNamara said the officer still suffers from headaches caused by the injury.

“The thanks they (correction officers) get is a fractured skull,” McNamara said.

Rupp was in jail on charges of safecracking and attempted burglary, according to court records. He was sentenced to prison for the charges and was released Nov. 1, three days before he was indicted on the assault charges. He also pleaded guilty in 2014 to possession of heroin and assault of a peace officer.

“Prison is the only appropriate sanction for the conduct of Mr. Rupp, even without taking into consideration criminal history,” McNamara argued in court.

Defense attorney John Celebrezze, who asked Judge Joyce V. Kimbler to grant Rupp less than a three-year sentence, said Rupp is trying to turn his life around.

Rupp underwent brain surgery for a tumor when he was 17 years old, Celebrezze said.

“When I learned of this surgery and his background, I asked the court to get a psychiatric evaluation,” Celebrezze said.

Celebrezze said his evaluation showed Rupp was competent and he argued that this information has caused Rupp to change his attitude, because he now knows nothing is wrong with him. Celebrezze added Rupp’s “hot temper” gets him into trouble.

“If I can take it back I would, but I can’t,” Rupp said. “The past three years of my life have been a web of mistakes and consequences.”

Kimbler said statements Rupp made during pretrial investigations — where Rupp indicated the assault was “spur of the moment” and that “it just happened” — showed a lack of concern for the effects of his actions.

“The problem is actions have consequences,” she said.

An Ashland County woman pleaded no contest to helping her boyfriend evade law enforcement in Medina Common Pleas Court on Thursday.

Judge Joyce V. Kimbler sentenced Sarah Krupansky, 28, of Polk, to 18 months in prison with 261 days credit on two counts of obstructing justice — both fifth-degree felonies.

ELIZABETH DOBBINS / GAZETTE
Sarah Krupansky stands in court before being sentenced on obstructing justice charges. Her defense attorney, Robert Campbell stands nearby.

“This is a series of serious offenses,” assistant prosecuting attorney Michael McNamara said in court.

Krupansky was one of eight individuals indicted last November in connection with a multicounty drug trafficking operation that transported heroin and cocaine in Ashland and Medina counties, according to authorities.

“I take responsibility for my actions,” Krupansky told Kimbler before sentencing. “I know it was wrong.”

McNamara said Krupansky helped Richard Lawless, her boyfriend and alleged ringleader of the organization, hide during a multistate chase by purchasing a car in Medina with plates that could not be traced by law enforcement to either her or Lawless.

“She had a significant role in Richard Lawless evading law enforcement,” Medina County prosecutor Dean Holman said.

While the sentence is less than the two-year sentence requested by the state, defense attorney Robert Campbell said the punishment is severe since it is in addition to the sentence she will likely receive from Ashland Common Pleas Court this summer.

“It’s a pretty harsh result,” Campbell said. “She’s a first-time offender who’s looking to go to prison for nine and a half years.”

Krupansky faces 26 charges in Ashland County for offenses dating between January and July 2015. The charges include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking heroin, trafficking cocaine, cultivating marijuana, tampering with records and aggravated possession of drugs.

Campbell said she has no prior felony convictions.

“(If not) for her emotional attachment to Richard Lawless, this would have never happened,” he said.

Lawless is facing 39 charges in an ongoing case in Ashland County Common Pleas Court, including trafficking, illegal manufacture of drugs, cultivating marijuana, aggravated burglary, felonious assault and abduction.

As Seville Fire Chief Jerry Winkler was moving along through his career, he had heard about a national certification program to become an executive fire officer.

“It became a goal of mine,” he said Thursday at the Seville station. “I had read about it. I had heard about it. It was like the pinnacle of this job. I wanted to see if I could get through it.”

And he did.

LAWRENCE PANTAGES / GAZETTE Guilford Township trustee Bob Rohrer and Seville Fire Chief Jerry Winkler share a moment Thursday during a ceremony to honor Winkler’s completion of a national certification program. Rohrer said when the township received a letter about Winkler’s accomplishment, he asked knowledgeable people what it meant and was told, “It’s a really big deal.” So Rohrer put together a celebration of about 50 area fire officials and political leaders.

Winkler spent two weeks a year for the last four years in a training program in Emmitsburg, Md., put on by the National Fire Academy, a part of the U.S. Fire Administration that is under the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In addition to that, he had to research and prepare papers that were 30 to 50 pages each on various topics.

He said he submitted his last paper on Halloween in 2015 and after some time went by, was notified that he had achieved the designation.

When Guilford Township trustee Bob Rohrer recently received notice about Winkler’s accomplishment, he wasn’t certain what it meant. “So I asked around and was told, ‘It’s a really big deal.’ ”

So Rohrer put together a celebration party Thursday at the station that was attended by about 50 people including regional fire department officials, and with U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Wadsworth; state Rep. Steve Hambley, R-Brunswick; Medina County Commissioners Pat Geissman and Tim Smith; and Seville Mayor Carol Carter.

As Winkler arrived in full dress uniform, he noticed vehicles from other departments in the parking lot. “You surprised me,” he said to Rohrer.

Winkler, 47, is in his 26th year and is coming up on 10 years’ service as chief in Seville. His wife, Anita, and father, Delbert, attended the ceremony. Winkler and Anita have two daughters and two grandchildren, ages 10 and 8.

He said the national program’s class size was about 24 and two or three classes run concurrently. Emmitsburg, Md., is near the U.S. presidential retreat Camp David, but Winkler said he was never able to visit the grounds.

“It was interesting to be in the program and be from Smalltown, Ohio,” he said, referring to Seville. “It’s a competitive program.”

Geissman said she was excited to congratulate Winkler because she was not aware of anyone in Medina County achieving the designation dating to 1976.

William Shaw, fire chief of Solon in Cuyahoga County and also president of the Ohio State Fire Chiefs Association, noted that years ago, a job in a fire department might have been thought of as a career for someone with little skills.

“Now we rely on educated people,” Shaw said. He pinned a service bar on Winkler’s uniform noting the NFA EFO designation.

Ron Browning, chief of the Chippewa Township department in Wayne County, said the achievement gives Winkler “credibility among his peers. It helps with organizational skills and a wider range of abilities — along with policies and procedures, too.

“This is our college course,” Browning said of his industry.

Renacci presented Winkler with his office’s “challenge coin,” given to people in Ohio’s 16th Congressional district “who make a difference.”

When it was Winkler’s turn to speak, he said, “I am honored and humbled. This was not about me. There are so many people around me.”

He joked about people in his circles knowing over the years that he was in the middle of working toward the certification goal. “People would say, ‘How’s that thing that you’re doing? How is it going?’

“I don’t think the (township) trustees knew what I was doing,” he said with a smile.

A 21-year-old was flown to Akron City Hospital with serious injuries following an early Friday morning crash, according to a press release from the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Morgan Lampshire, 21, was traveling south on State Road when she lost control of her Jeep Cherokee at about 2:59 a.m. The car traveled off the left side of the road and struck a drainage pipe. Lampshire, who was wearing her seatbelt at the time of the crash, was ejected onto the road.

She was flown by helicopter to Akron City Hospital. A hospital spokesperson said Lampshire was in the intensive care unit as of 11:30 a.m. Friday morning, but he was unable to provide a condition.

According to a press release, alcohol is suspected to be a factor in the crash.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is still investigating the crash. Medina County Sheriff’s Office, Medina Township Police, Bath Township Police and EMS, Sharon Township Fire Department and Granger Township Fire/EMS also assisted at the scene, according to a press release.

A man accused of using a pellet gun to steal money and cigarettes from a Lodi convenience store was arrested by police early Friday morning, according to a press release from the Lodi Police Department.

Christopher Brezina, 33, of West Salem in Wayne County, was arrested and charged with aggravated burglary after he entered Circle K on 441 Medina Street at about 12:30 a.m. wearing a hoodie and a piece of cloth around his mouth, the release said. He held a pellet gun — which the clerk thought was a rifle — and demanded cash from the register. He also grabbed a carton of cigarettes before leaving, police said.

A Lodi Police officer saw his car leave the parking lot at a high speed with the headlights off, the release said. The car was out of sight before the officer could turn his cruiser around so officers from the Medina County Sheriff’s Office, Westfield Center and Seville Police Department searched the area before locating Brezina and his car about three miles away in the parking lot of the McDonald’s on Avon Lake Road near Interstate 71.

Brezina was arrested and the carton of cigarettes, money, pellet gun and clothing worn at the robbery were found at the scene, the release said. He was transported to Medina County Jail.

Brezina has no prior felony convictions in Medina or Wayne County Common Pleas Courts. He was found guilty of petty theft in 2004 and disorderly conduct in 2011, both misdemeanors, in Wayne County.