Woman shot after fight earlier in day

LORAIN - A 23-year-old Lorain woman was shot in her lower back early Friday in what police believe was retaliation for a fight she had with another woman in Elyria earlier.

A witness told police a red SUV had pulled up to the intersection of West 13th Street and Lexington Avenue about 4 a.m. and dropped someone off. The witness said he heard someone in the SUV yell “We’ll be back,” and then the person who was dropped off began firing a handgun toward the 23-year-old who was struck.

The SUV circled back to pick up the shooter, according to the unnamed witness, and the vehicle fled.

Officers later located the SUV traveling south on Elyria Avenue near East 33rd Street where it was pulled over. A loaded revolver was seen in plain view directly in front of the passenger seat, according to police, but it did not appear to have been recently fired. Casings for a 9mm luger were found at the scene of the shooting.

The vehicle’s driver, Brittney Hill, 20, of Lorain was charged with driving under suspension while another occupant, Tremayne Wallace had a warrant through the Amherst police department.

A third occupant, who has not been charged, was the woman who the victim was fighting with earlier in the day, police said. The two fought during two separate incidents earlier in the night, but the occupant left in the red SUV after the second altercation. When the SUV returned, the victim said she heard several shots ring out before she was struck. She did not see who shot her, according to police.

The woman was listed in good condition at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.

Bank robbery suspect held by feds without bond

CLEVELAND - A Sheffield Lake man was being held without bond by the federal marshal’s service Friday after his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon on an armed bank robbery charge in connection with the July 21 robbery of the Chase Bank in Sheffield Lake.

A detention hearing is set for Tuesday for Robert Starnes Jr., 39, who pleaded not guilty to one count of bank robbery, a court official said.

Public defender Edward Bryan represented Starnes at his initial appearance Thursday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate William Baughman Jr., but it is unknown whether Bryan will continue to represent him, the court official said.

Starnes is a suspect in several other bank robberies, and the investigation is continuing, said FBI spokesman Scott Wilson.

Starnes is accused of robbing the Chase Bank branch on East Lake Road while armed with what appeared to be a handgun, Wilson said. He declined to say how much money was taken in the robbery.

Starnes’ wife, Kimberly Starnes, said that the FBI has searched the Erie Shore Landing apartment she shares with her husband and agents didn’t recover any money.

Robert Starnes is also suspected in robberies of the Lorain National Bank branch in Sheffield Township on June 28 and the FirstMerit Bank branch in Amherst on July 16.

Kimberly Starnes said previously that her husband has told her he had nothing to do with the robberies.

She said her husband is a heroin addict, but that the only person he hurts is himself.

Widower sues Lorain hospital over late wife’s care

ELYRIA - The estate of a Lorain woman who died at Community Regional Medical Center filed a wrongful death lawsuit Friday against Community Health Partners and a number of doctors over the level of care for her before she died on Aug. 2, 2009.

The suit was filed by Daniel B. Gormley individually and as administrator of the estate of his wife, Doris M. Gormley. It seeks damages in excess of $25,000.

Also named as defendants in the suit were Catholic Healthcare Partners, Marcietta Wilson-Coleman, an Elyria-based obstetrician-gynecologist, Women’s Health Institute of Amherst, Community Health Partners Physicians and a number of assistants.

A representative of the hospital was unavailable for comment Friday afternoon.

Lorain man gets 3 years for nine felonies

ELYRIA - A 64-year-old Lorain man was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to nine felonies related to a 2008 drug raid on his East 33rd Street home in Lorain, according to court documents filed Friday.

Jose Rodriguez pleaded guilty to charges including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking in cocaine and possession of criminal tools and asked to be sentenced on the spot by Common Pleas Judge James Miraldi.

Several weeks ago, Rodriguez’s nephew, Tito Marrero, 37, also was sentenced to three years in prison in connection with the same raid but will remain free while he appeals a county judge’s decision upholding a search of his duffel bag where police reported finding cocaine.

Marrero’s uncle, and Rodriguez’s brother, Perfecto Rodriguez, 68, also pleaded guilty to charges including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and trafficking in drugs and will be sentenced later by Miraldi, according to court documents.

Police said they found about half a kilo of cocaine - more than a pound - cash and marijuana during the raid on Jose Rodriguez’s home. The bulk of the cocaine was found in Marrero’s bag, according to the search warrant.

Lorain man shot in ankle in South Lorain

LORAIN - A man was treated at Community Regional Medical Center for a gunshot wound he received Thursday afternoon in South Lorain, according to a Lorain police report.

According to the report, an officer was dispatched to the hospital at about 6 p.m. Noel Cruz, 19, was bleeding from his right ankle, the report said.

Cruz told officers he and a friend were walking eastbound from Globe Avenue in the 1700 block of East 30th Street when they heard a “popping/firecracker” sound. Both began to run and ran all the way to the friend’s house on East 30th Street.

Once they arrived, Cruz said he had a burning sensation in his ankle and was bleeding. He and his friend tried cleaning the wound, but, upon realizing it was serious, asked another friend to drive Cruz to the hospital.

None of the men knew where the gunshots had come from, knew of any problems or why anyone would want to shoot them, they told police.

Officers collected gunshot residue from Cruz and took photographs of his wound, all of which were entered into evidence.

The bullet was lodged in Cruz’s foot, the report said. Hospital staff members were told to contact police when the bullet is removed so it can be entered into evidence as well. Cruz was listed in good condition Friday, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Boy injured in go-cart accident on Neff Road

GRAFTON TWP. - A 12-year-old Grafton boy was in good condition after being flown to a Cleveland hospital Thursday night following a go-cart accident, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

According to the Ohio Highway Patrol, James Mulkey, 12, was pulling his go-cart out of a field and attempting to go south on Neff Road about two-tenths of a mile east of state Route 83 a little after 6 p.m. According to a dispatcher, the boy failed to yield and was struck by an eastbound 1988 Oldsmobile driven by Cynthia Claycomb, 35, of Litchfield.

Mulkey was taken to Medina General Hospital, according to the patrol. He was then flown to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. Claycomb wasn’t injured, according to a patrol dispatcher.

The dispatcher said she didn’t know if anyone was cited.

Girl says she was sexually assaulted by aunt’s fiance

LORAIN - A 4-year-old girl told her aunt this week that the woman’s fiance had sexually assaulted her during a weekend incident at the man’s home.

Police reports said the child had been staying with her aunt and the woman’s 28-year-old fiance since last week at a home in the 400 block of Colorado Ave.  The man’s 3-year-old daughter had come to stay with them last weekend.

The 4-year-old girl told her aunt about the alleged sexual assault Wednesday afternoon when she said she had a secret to tell the woman. When the aunt questioned her niece, the girl said the fiance entered a bedroom where she and the

3-year-old were playing. The man then pulled the older girl onto a bed, pulled down her shorts and made oral contact with her genitalia, after which he made the child have oral contact with his penis. The younger girl told the woman a similar story.

The aunt told police the incident occurred between 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. when she was away. Due to the children’s ages, police did not question them, reports said.

When questioned by police, the man denied having done anything. Police told the adults that a report detailing the alleged sexual assault would be sent to Lorain County Children Services.

Lakewood man accused of robbing 2 Elyria Wal-Marts

ELYRIA - A Lakewood man arrested after leading Wal-Mart security and Elyria police on a chase Wednesday night near Midway Mall already had been successful in pulling off the same stunt at another Elyria Wal-Mart at Chestnut Commons, according to an Elyria police report.

Regis Ferron, 35, was charged with theft, possession of criminal tools, obstructing official business and resisting arrest for the Midway Wal-Mart incident. He also had an outstanding warrant from Avon police, a police report released Thursday said.

In that incident, he had loaded up his shopping cart with cat food, various grocery items and a computer and then walked out of Wal-Mart.

According to a police report released Friday, an asset protection associate from the Chestnut Commons Wal-Mart went to the Elyria police station Thursday night to report a similar incident from the night before.

According to the report, a man - later identified as Ferron - entered the Chestnut Commons Wal-Mart through the grocery entrance, where he selected several items, including fruit juice, beer and laundry soap. He then went to the shoe department, and put a pair of work boots in his cart.

In the Midway Wal-Mart incident, Ferron was observed by store security pushing a shopping cart with a large computer in it around the store. He then entered the infant department and used needle-nosed pliers to cut the security device off the computer. He wrapped the security device in towels and placed it on a shelf.

At the Chestnut Commons Wal-Mart, Ferron ignored a greeter who asked for a receipt as he left the store and fled with the car full of unpaid merchandise, according to the police report.

According to the report, he put the TV in a maroon minivan and fled the area, leaving the rest of the merchandise in the cart in the parking lot.

The report listed the total merchandise value at $910.68.

Lorain man arrested on multiple charges

ELYRIA - A Lorain man was arrested early Friday on a variety of charges after he allegedly pulled a gun on someone and demanded money and then fled police, according to a report.

Brandon Keith, 20, of Lorain, was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, having weapons under disability, using weapons while intoxicated, tampering with evidence, aggravated menacing, obstructing official business and underage consumption of alcohol, according to Elyria police.

Officers were called to 112 Neufer Court about 11:45 p.m. Thursday. They observed a black male, later identified as Keith, wearing a black T-shirt and shorts and standing near a porch on Neufer Court.

Keith began walking southbound away from officers, and officers ordered him to stop. Keith then began running and reaching for the waistband of his pants. Officers observed what appeared to be the handle of a gun.

Officers chased him to 118 Neufer Court and into the backyard, where they took him into custody.

Officers did not find a gun on Keith, and he denied having one, but they located a small black gun in the grass 20 feet from where he was taken into custody. The report noted the grass was wet, but the gun was dry.

The gun was found to be an unloaded Lehna EZ small-caliber semi-automatic handgun. Officers placed it into evidence and sent it for fingerprints.

The victim, a 16-year-old male, told police he was on his porch when Keith approached him, yelling that he needed money. The teen said he had seen Keith before but did not know who he was. The teen said Keith got in his face, asked if he had a problem and pulled the gun and put it in his face.

The teen said Keith then walked toward a white car and pointed the gun at the subject in the car.

The teen said Keith returned and put the gun in his face again, at which point he ran in the house and called police.

The teen ID’d the gun police recovered as the one pointed at him.

Elyria man robbed of cell phone, iPod

ELYRIA - An Elyria man said he was robbed of his cell phone and iPod at gunpoint late Thursday, according to an Elyria police report.

The 20-year-old man said he was walking on Oak Street about 11:30 p.m. when he was approached by a black male, about 14 years old and 5 feet tall, wearing a do-rag on his head. The teen pulled a dark, small semi-automatic handgun and pointed it at the man, demanding he “give him everything that he had.”

The man turned over a Samsung Roig cell phone and blue iPod, the report said.

The man said the teen fled after taking the items. The man said he immediately went home, told his brother what had happened and asked his brother to call police because “he was too angry.”

The man said he grabbed a baseball bat and went back to look for the robber but could not find him.

The gunman was reportedly wearing a white T-shirt and blue shorts with a white stripe.

Store employee attacked with golf club

LORAIN - Officers were called to a Meadow Lane home Thursday after a Rent-A-Center employee said a man attacked him with a golf club when he tried to retrieve some property.

According to a Lorain police report, Ward Farmer of Rent-A-Center went to 4604 Meadow Lane to retrieve items from a 39-year-old Lorain man who is behind on his payments. According to Farmer, Rent-A-Center has been trying to take back the items for several weeks.

Ward said that he pulled up Thursday about 1 p.m. and saw the man in his garage.

Farmer said the man approached him with a golf club in the tree lawn and struck him in the shin, telling him not to enter his property and threatening that if he did he would “knock him 30 yards.”

The man told police Rent-A-Center had no business on his property without a court order but denied threatening anyone with a golf club.

He told officers his golf club set was intact in his garage and that “Puerto Ricans like to golf, too.”

Farmer was told to contact the prosecutor’s office if he wanted to pursue charges.

Man robs 2 women at gunpoint

LORAIN - Police were called to a Lorain home Thursday morning after a man reportedly forced his way in and robbed the occupants at gunpoint, according to a police report.

Two women who had been in the home, an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old, were on a neighbor’s porch when police arrived at the East 39th Street home about 6:10 a.m.

One woman told police her boyfriend left a little before 5 a.m., and, when he did, he was accosted outside by a light-skinned black man with a gun. The boyfriend fled and the gunman went into the home.

According to the women, the man grabbed one of the women by her hair and demanded to know “where Andrew had his money hidden in the house because I know he is in jail right now.” The woman said she told the man Andrew, the other woman’s boyfriend, did not have any money at the house, but that she would give him $300 to leave. The gunman responded by hitting her on the left side of her head with the pistol, the report said.

The women said the gunman threw blankets over their heads so they wouldn’t see his face and then ordered them around the home with the blankets over their heads. The man also hit the second woman in the head with his pistol, the report said.

When the gunman left, he told them not to move for 20 minutes or he would be back. The women said they waited 20 minutes before running to the neighbor’s house with an infant who was in the home.

According to the report, $300, a pair of diamond earrings and diamond rings were taken from the home.

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