BY JOHN A. DARNELL JR.
      associate editor
      A search warrant served at 167 Shields Rd. on Wed., May 17 netted police 3,717 pills of suspected oxycontin as well as a stolen gun and led to the arrest of a 27-year-old man who lived there.
      Boardman Police Narcotics Enforcement Unit commander, Sgt. Michael Hughes, said the pills will be further analyzed to see if they contain fentynal.
      Arrested was Jose Luis Valentin. He was charged with trafficking in drugs, receiving stolen property and having weapons under a disability.
      Sgt. Hughes said the gun, a 40-caliber Glock, had been stolen in a burglary in New Castle, Pa. When seized by police, the weapon was loaded, with one round in the chamber.
      Police went to Valentin’s residence after obtaining a search warrant signed by Boardman Court Judge Joseph Houser.
      Police had to break down the door of the apartment to gain entry, and then observed Valentin near a bedroom door.
      According to police, Valentin then entered the bedroom and slammed the door shut, as police commanded the man to come out of the bedroom.
      “He did, slowly,” Sgt Hughes said, noting Valentin was then asked if there was anything he should not have in the apartment.
      “He responded, ‘my gun,’ and also stated ‘pills.’”
      When asked if he had a prescription for the pills, Valentin told police, “No, I just take ‘em, pop ‘em.”
      In addition to the pills and loaded gun, police found $647, a cell phone and two loaded magazines of .40 caliber ammunition.
      When asked to provide the code for his cell phone, Valentin refused, Sgt. Hughes said.
      Records of the Boardman Police Department show on Jan. 20, 2016, a raid was conducted at Valentin’s residence, an apartment located at 46 Shields Rd.
      When police entered the apartment through an unlocked door, they found Valentin, a female named Leasal Scott, 19, and their 1-year-old son inside, as well as a plastic tray that contained several pieces of crack cocaine and paper folds of crack cocaine.
      Police said the paper folds were packaged for sale and located inside a kitchen cabinet.
      The crack cocaine seized by police field-tested positive and weighed 8.6 grams.
      Sgt. Mike Hughes reported at the time Valentin became “very confrontational, stating ‘you have no right to be in my house, you have no right to search my house.’ Officers then asked who rented the apartment and Scott said that she was the renter, as Valentin shouted ‘she has nothing to do with what I do.’”
      Valentin was charged with trafficking in drugs (cocaine) and endangering children.
      He entered a plea in Boardman Court of not guilty to the charges and was given an attorney appointed at public cost. He was bound over to a Mahoning County Grand Jury where he was indicted.
      Following his indictment, Valentin appeared in the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court of Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, where the endangering children charge was dropped, and the trafficking in drugs (cocaine) charge was reduced from a felony 3 to a felony 4.
      On June 22, 2016, Valentin entered a plea of guilty to the cocaine charge. Judge Krichbaum ruled that Valentin was “not amenable to a community control sanction and prison is consistent with the purpose and principles of the Ohio Revised Code” and ordered Valentin to serve eight months in jail.
      The record of the court also shows in May, 2014 that Valentin, when he was 18-years-old, faced a charge of trafficking in marihuana that was lodged by the Youngstown Police Department.
      He received a court appointed attorney on that charge and entered a plea of guilty on Oct. 1, 2014 and received no jail time, as Judge Lou D’Apolito ruled that a “non prison sanction will adequately punish Valentin and protect the public.”
      Valentin was sentenced to one year of community control, supervised by the Adult Parole Authority, and ordered to obtain a high school diploma, obtain employment, submit to random drug testing and obtain a driver’s license.
      On Sept. 1, 2015, Valentin’s parole officer, Brian L. Worrell informed the court that Valentin had failed to obtain a high school diploma, as well as employment.