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WARREN -- A Youngstown man on Monday was sentenced to seven months in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of attempted counterfeiting.
Brandon M. Ogden, 24, of Coleman Drive, was arrested on charges connected to a 2019 internet sale of a smartphone, which was paid for with counterfeit bills.
He pleaded guilty to an amended attempted counterfeiting charge, with the charge of petty theft dismissed. Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Peter J. Kontos abided by the terms of the plea deal that headed off a jury trial scheduled to begin Monday.
The charges stem from a case investigated by the Liberty Township Police Department for an incident that occurred outside Walmart. According to the police report, the victims were selling an Apple iPhone online and agreed to meet the buyer, identified as Ogden, who paid for the item with an envelope containing counterfeit currency.
Kontos ordered the defendant to pay the victims $175, the cost of the cellphone, as restitution.
Records show Ogden has been held in Trumbull County jail since Feb. 13 on various out-of-county and out-of-state warrants.
Police reports state Ogden was involved in a similar online deal involving a $700 Apple iPhone on March 3, 2018, outside the Liberty Walmart, in which township police investigated a man waving a gun in the air. In that case, Ogden pleaded guilty in Girard Municipal Court to charge of inducing panic and was given credit for 10 days served in jail. In June, Ogden pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of theft and was given credit for 94 days served in jail and fined $388, which included court costs.