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Briefs

Weapons charges dropped

STEUBENVILLE — Weapons charges brought against a 42-year-old man who allegedly tried to enter the Jefferson County Correctional Center with a gun in a bag have been dropped for evidentiary reasons, but Assistant Prosecutor Steve Lamatrice said Wednesday that “doesn’t mean he won’t be (charged) at some point.”

Norman DeJuan Brown, 42, 361 Summit Ave., was taken into custody as he arrived in court for a juvenile court hearing after a loaded .32 caliber pistol was discovered inside a black leather bag he was carrying.

Brown told deputies at the time he didn’t know the gun was in the bag and said his girlfriend “apparently grabbed the wrong bag, which contained the firearm.”

Couple taken into custody

STEUBENVILLE — A Salineville couple was taken into custody Tuesday on Wolf Run, Springfield township, after a traffic stop.

Richard A. Monigold II, 40, 224 Ocelot Road NE, Salineville, was booked on an outstanding warrant for failing to appear on an aggravated possession charge out of Columbiana County, deputies said. His passenger, Samantha Crawford, 34, also of 224 Ocelot Road NE, was charged with falsification after she allegedly gave officers a fictitious name and Social Security number.

Deputies allegedly found a bag containing about 6.8 grams of an unidentified white substance and a scale with white residue in the vehicle and said charges of possession of drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia are pending against both of them.

They said Monigold told them he’d found the bag on the side of the road and picked it up, while Crawford said she was walking in the woods and discovered the bag when she decided to start digging.

Three facing drug charges

STEUBENVILLE — Three people were taken into custody Tuesday on drug charges after a traffic stop in the 100 block of S. Third Street.

The driver, Joshua Roudebush, 43, 319 township Highway 278, Bergholz, was charged with misdemeanor possession.

Craig N. Merrin, 32, 7652 state Route 152, Richmond, was charged with trafficking in drugs, possession of drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia, while Elizabeth Whitman 29, 1204 township Road 267, Amsterdam, was charged with possession of drugs, 19 Xanax bars.

Roudebush reportedly told police he agreed to bring Merrin and Whitman to Steubenville in exchange for drugs.

Police allegedly found five notebooks bearing Merrin’s name that listed what they claim was names of drugs, prices and transaction information. They also allege Merrin dropped a baggie containing 139 Xanax bars as he walked to a cruiser.

Officers said they found hypodermic needles with a baggie containing a clear, crystal-like substance in Whitman’s purse, but she denied it belonged to her.

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