YOUNGSTOWN — Sentencing for a Newton Township man convicted of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon has been rescheduled to Jan. 6 in U.S. Northern Ohio District Court.

George Vanderwall Jr., 35, of Kings Drive SW, was scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 30, but court records stated his hearing was rescheduled for Jan. 6 by U.S. Judge Dan Polster.

Vanderwall on July 20 pleaded guilty to the federal firearm charge.

In a federal sentencing memorandum, defense attorney Khalida Sims acknowledged his client will serve some sort of prison term and that Vanderwall is a high school dropout and has worked in construction since childhood. After completing his sentence, he intends to obtain a GED and gain steady employment in construction.

Vanderwall requests placement at FCI at Milan, which has vocational programs in several trades such as carpentry, electrical, pipefitting and plumbing.

Polster at sentencing also will order the forfeiture of a CS semiautomatic pistol, model CZ 1950, and a Beretta semiautomatic pistol, model 75, .22 caliber plus some 50 rounds of ammunition.

The charges deal with a March 2 incident at a Family Dollar store along West Market Street in Warren, where a federal affidavit accuses Vanderwall of pulling a gun on another customer after they got in an argument about maintaining social distancing in the cashier line.

The document states Vanderwall then left the store and was later apprehended by police with a woman who also had a gun. Vanderwall said both guns were his.

Vanderwall was not allowed to have a gun because of a December 2019 felony domestic violence conviction in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, the affidavit stated.

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