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YOUNGSTOWN -- A local landlord was arrested after police said he threatened a woman over a residency dispute.
Online court records show that Michael K. Clark, 46, was arraigned Monday before Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Carla Baldwin, charged with one count of menacing, a fourth-degree misdemeanor. He pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial Oct. 26.
A Youngstown police report states the officers caught Clark on police body camera Sunday, threatening a woman who lives in a house he owns.
The report states that police responded to the Hudson Avenue home twice that day, with the later call coming around 5 p.m.
The woman identified in the report as the victim told police she arrived home after working a Door Dash shift to find that her roommate had put all her belongings on the porch and locked her out.
The report states that when police responded earlier in the day, after the roommate tried to force the woman out of the house, officers explained to both of them that Ohio law only allows for a legal resident to leave the property voluntarily or be formally evicted through a court process.
They said that because the woman had already been living there for two months, she could not simply be made to leave.
Both women said they understood but then the victim came home after work to find her belongings outside.
During the second encounter with the women, Clark arrived and told police he had given the woman 24 hours to leave, and said that the roommate was the only one whose name is on the lease.
Police told him that did not matter and that he would have to obtain a formal eviction notice through the court if he wanted to force the woman out of the house. The report states that police had to explain residency laws to Clark multiple times.
The report states that Clark became agitated when police told the woman she could bring her belongings back into the house. He told them that she had damaged walls inside the house, but police informed him that the roommate had already taken responsibility for the damage to the walls and told them the woman was not at fault.
Police also told him that Ohio law deems that any damage to the walls caused by a legal resident of the property can only be dealt with as a civil matter.
At that point, Clark allegedly told police that if the woman broke anything, he would “(expletive) her up."
A police supervisor arrived at the home and again explained everything to Clark and the women.
After it appeared that everyone understood the legalities of residency, the woman informed police that she wanted to press charges against Clark for menacing. They arrested him on the basis of his threat, which the report states they recorded on their body cameras.