9 Signs to Detect Drug Activity in Your Neighborhood

Stow police offer the following tips to help discern whether people are making, doing or dealing drugs in your neighborhood.

'Minor Pawn' in Drug Conspiracy is the Fugitive of the Week

The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force is looking for information on Rocco Pandoli.

The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force is asking for information on Rocco Pandoli, the task force’s fugitive of the week.   Pandoli is wanted by the U.S. Marshals and the  Ohio Valley Drug Task Force for aiding and abetting delivery of a controlled substance. The task force is out of Wheeling, WV. According to a press release from the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force, Pandoli is a “minor pawn” in a larger drug conspiracy that has connections to Ohio and West Virginia.  Pandoli, 24, is about 5’09” and 185 pounds. He’s thought to be hiding somewhere in Cleveland and has had an address near the 1500 block of East 45th Street in Cleveland in the past.  The task force is offering a reward for information that leads to Pandoli’s …

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Student Snorts White Powder Sold at High School: Police Report

The following information was supplied by the Stow Police Department.

Acording to a Stow Police report, a Stow-Munroe Falls High School teacher saw two male students huddled together looking at something in a "suspicious manner." The teacher told officers she walked over to the two youths to see what they were looking at and one boy was holding a Carmex lip balm container in his hand. According to the report, she asked the student to open the container. After reportedly seeing white powder inside, she alerted authorities. A Stow Youth Services report stated that a 14-year-old bought the substance from the other student and snorted it, thinking it was cocaine. Police said the white powder that was purchased from the 15-year-old student was actually crushed Seroquel, a prescription used to treat symptoms of …

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Teen Robbed While Trying to Buy Drugs at High School

The following information was supplied by the Stow Police Department.

A 15-year-old Kent Roosevelt High School student called Stow Police because he went to the Stow-Munroe Falls High School to buy drugs, but was robbed instead. According to the report, the youth went to the high school July 31 around 4 p.m. to buy $60 worth of marijuana from someone he knew at the tennis courts. But, the deal did not go as planned. Instead, police said when the suspect pulled up, he took the teen’s $80 and drove off with it. The youth gave police a description of the car.  Theft is a first-degree misdemeanor and trafficking marijuana is a fourth-degree felony in this situation.

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James Thomas

9:53 am on Monday, August 27, 2012

One would hope so. If it were my kid they would be so busted at home and in court. I count myself so lucky I haven't had to deal with this.   more ›

False Alarm Emergency Call After Teen Smokes 'Spice'

The following information was supplied by the Stow Police Department.

The Stow Fire Department received a call from a frantic teen July 13 because he said his friend was short of breath and had chest pains.  The boy hung up without giving an address, according to the report. An emergency trace resulted in finding the location where the teens were — the 2000 block of Samira Road.  While EMS went to check the area, a Stow Youth Services employee was able to get a hold of the teen on the phone again. The teen said his 14-year-old friend was "freaking out," which is why he called 9-1-1.  When EMS arrived, they said the teen was OK and there was no medical emergency. The teens were taken to their parents. Police said they determined the teen had smoked "spice" or K2 — a synthetic marijuana. The police report …

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Repeat Shoplifter Caught in Stow

The following information was supplied by the Stow Police Department.

Police said a Ravenna woman, who was told not to shop at the Kohl's in Bainbridge after she was arrested in May 2011 for theft, tried to steal from Kohl's in Stow June 12.  Officers said the 22-year-old woman left Kohl’s with a $68 wallet and clutch, $194 in miscellaneous clothing, a $30 bracelet and more jewelery without paying for the items. The suspect also had drugs on her, according to officers. The woman was arrested and released on a $500 personal recognizance bond. Theft is a first-degree misdemeanor, criminal trespassing is a fourth-degree misdemeanor and possession of drugs is a first-degree misdemeanor, in this situation.

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Stow Man Gets Jail Time for Making Meth Near Kent School

Joshua B. Tipton of Stow was sentenced to the mandatory prison time.

Joshua B. Tipton, 27, of Stow, was sentenced to six years in prison and to pay a $10,000 fine after being found guilty of making methamphetamines near a Kent school this winter.  "Your honor, I maintain I’m innocent of these charges other than being in the paddy wagon,” Tipton was reported saying in a Record Courier story. “I’m innocent, sir.”  Read more about the two-day trial, like how Tipton plans to appeal the decision,  in the full Record Courier story.  Lori L. Claeys, 37, of Echo Valley Drive in Stow, was also arrested for making methamphetamine in the Kent house less than two blocks from Holden Elementary School. Claeys, Tipton and Kenneth J. Brewster, 45, of Kent were arrested Dec. 14 at 319 W. Elm St. after a joint investigation …

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Police Find Syringes, Drugs and Man Slumped Over Steering Wheel

The following information was supplied by the Stow Police Department.

Stow Police said they found an Akron resident slumped over the steering wheel of their car April 9 in the Chipotle parking lot around 6 p.m. Police suspected the man, 26, was using drugs. Officers found seven white oval pills, three used syringes and a burnt spoon in the car, according to the report. Officers arrested and charged the man with possession of drug abuse instruments, a second-degree misdemeanor, and possession of dangerous drugs, a first-degree misdemeanor.  The car, a 1997 Ford Escort, was towed. The man was released on a $350 personal recognizance bond. 

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Demolition Begins on Condemned Meth House on Uniondale (Photos)

Stow Police and the city's building inspector boarded up a home at 2106 Uniondale Dr. in December because it was uninhabitable and being used, again, to manufacture methamphetamine.

The home on Uniondale Drive that was found to be the site of a methamphetamine lab twice is now being torn down by Dave Helmling Excavating. And it's apparently one of the worst homes the company has torn down ever. Dave Helmling told the Stow Sentry about 40 cubic yards of trash were taken out of the home on Tuesday. Stow Police first went to the home, at 2106 Uniondale Dr., in September after receiving an anonymous tip about possible illegal drug activity.  Officers said they went to the home and witnessed the men making meth in the garage and arrested Stephen Gene McKinney, 41, and the homeowner Lewis Gene Butler, Jr., 39, for producing the drug with a 2-year-old child in the home in September. Police also found guns on the property. …

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Police Find Drug Paraphernalia in Abandoned Van

The following information was provided by the Stow Police Department.

A resident at the 2400 block of Samira Road called Stow Police Jan. 5 to complain about a car that had not been moved off the street for two staight weeks. Police investigated the car and found that the license plates were illegal. After the 2001 Ford Windstar was towed, police searched the car and found drug paraphernalia, according to the report.  Police said they found multiple open tablets from a nasal decongestant medicine box, a plastic bottle with pink residue and a homemade marijuana pipe with residue in it. Unlawful plates and drug paraphernalia are both fourth-degree misdemeanors.

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