YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Reports said police Wednesday checking a home that was abandoned found two guns, one of them stolen, cocaine and cash in an SUV parked in the back.
Justin Hall, 21, of Youngstown, was arrested and booked into the Mahoning County Jail on charges of improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle, being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of cocaine. He is expected to be arraigned Friday in municipal court.
Reports said police were checking a home at 113 Matta Ave. at about 9:40 a.m. that had been declared uninhabitable when they saw an SUV in the backyard.
Reports said Hall was in the SUV and he initially gave police a false name. When police checked that name and told Hall that the person had several warrants from Trumbull County, Hall admitted his real identity. When an officer tried to handcuff him, he tried to pull away, but the officer managed to grab him, the report stated.
Inside the SUV, police reported finding a stolen .40-caliber handgun from Campbell; a .357-Magnum revolver; a box with three different types of ammunition; cocaine; and over 1,600 cash.
Court records do not list a felony conviction barring Hall from having a firearm, but he is free on $5,000 bail stemming from a Feb. 8 arrest by Austintown on two fifth-degree felony drug charges. He filed an application in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to take part in the drug part program, but his request was denied because of his criminal history.
Being free on bail, Hall would not be allowed to have a gun.
Hall is also the second person police arrested in as many days with a gun. Tuesday, a man who was free on $17,500 bail from municipal court on drug and gun charges from Aug. 31 was found with a gun following a South Side traffic stop.