ELYRIA – A longtime Lorain County maintenance worker was fired this week after he failed a mandatory drug test when he was involved in a car accident Sept. 2.

James Brown, 47, tested positive for cocaine, Lorain County Administrator Jim Cordes said. That prompted the county commissioners to vote to fire him at their meeting Wednesday.

Brown was driving west on Russia Road in Carlisle Township in a county-owned Ford Taurus when the car went left of center and struck an eastbound Dodge Dakota driven by Jeffrey Newman of Amherst, according to a crash report completed by the Ohio Highway Patrol.

Neither Newman nor his passenger was injured in the accident, which took place around 3 p.m., the report said. Cordes said that although Brown did go to the hospital he wasn’t seriously injured.

In a written statement, Newman told troopers that Brown’s car went through the stop sign at Murray Ridge Road and went left of center.

“I tried going into ditch, but didn’t make it all the way when the car struck my driver’s side rear,” Newman wrote.

In his statement, Brown wrote that he didn’t recall what happened, although he said that he had stopped at the stop sign.

“The next thing I remember was the airbag smacking my face and me jumping out to see what happen(ed),” Brown wrote.

Brown wrote that he didn’t know if he blacked out but didn’t believe he’d fallen asleep at the wheel.

Brown didn’t comment when reached by phone Friday, but Cordes said Brown could challenge his firing through the union grievance process. He said the commissioners had two options – terminating Brown’s employment or suspending him and placing him in a treatment program – after learning about the positive drug test.

Given the circumstances, Cordes said, the commissioners opted to fire Brown.

Brown pleaded no contest in Elyria Municipal Court to a charge of improper lane usage. He was fined $150 but $30 of the fine was suspended.

Neither the Patrol’s report, nor court records, indicate that drugs played a role in the crash.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

The Elyria High School vs. Strongsville varsity football game is canceled this evening due to a number of the Elyria players being ill.

Additionally, the Elyria High School junior varsity football game is canceled tomorrow.

Thirty-eight of the teams’ 86 players came to school today and left with an intestinal illness, according to district spokeswoman Amy Higgins. One student had to be taken to the emergency room this morning, Higgins said. She said he is recovering but did not know if he had been released from the hospital.

Higgins said players had a team dinner last night but declined to speculate whether their sickness could be food poisoning.

“The symptoms of flu and food poisoning are so similar,” she said.

The varsity game will be played Sunday at 2 p.m. at Strongsville. The junior varsity game will not be made up.

The team dinner, which included both varsity and junior varsity players, was at the stadium and was hosted by parents, Higgins said.

Higgins said she believed coaches were at the team dinner but said she didn’t have any information regarding whether any of them were sick.

Kathryn Boylan, from the city health department, said she was aware of the situation but didn’t have any information to release at this time.

“We’re starting our investigation within the hour,” she said.

EMH Regional Medical Center is also investigating, according to Athletic Director Darren Conley.

Information on the game, if it is rescheduled, will be released at a later date.

LORAIN — A Lorain man who has been on the run from U.S. Marshals for a year was arrested this week in North Carolina.

Leiva

Luis Leiva, 49, was picked up Monday in Raleigh, N.C., using a fake identity, according to Marshals.

Leiva was wanted for charges of domestic violence, violating a protection order, burglary and assault stemming from an April 2009 incident and was added to the U.S. Marshals’ “Dangerous Dozen” most wanted list.

Deputy Tony Keffer, U.S. Marshals Service task force coordinator for Lorain County, said Leiva was taken into custody without incident by Marshals and Raleigh law enforcement. He was booked in the Wake County Jail.

When arrested, Leiva thought he was being arrested for an immigration violation Keffer said. Keffer didn’t have information on Leiva’s citizenship status but said Leiva was born in Peru. If convicted of a felony, it’s likely he could be deported, Keffer said.

Leiva’s year on the Dangerous Dozen list is long and is due to the fact that he left the area and changed his identity, Keffer said.

Keffer attributed his arrest to “a lot of investigating” and “good work by the Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. Marshals.”

Following Leiva’s arrest, U.S. Marshals released their latest Dangerous Dozen list, which for the first time doesn’t contain any Lorain County criminals.

Keffer explained that while Marshals try to include wanted individuals from all areas the task force covers, there were more pressing needs elsewhere.

Four individuals are new to the list:

• Thomas Propst is a former corrections officer from Ashtabula County who is wanted for the murder of his wife.
• Derek Watson, from the Toledo area, is wanted for assault.
• Kennard Gay, from the Akron area, is wanted on two warrants for murder and attempted murder from two separate incidents that occurred over the last few months.
• Billy Farmer, from the Mansfield area, is wanted for sex offender registration violation.

View the entire Dangerous Dozen:

Download the list.

LORAIN — About 125 runners are expected to take part in a 5-K walk-run Saturday to benefit a scholarship fund established in memory of Lorain teacher Noemi Pagan.

The run will begin at 9 a.m. from the Black River Landing in downtown Lorain. Registration begins at 7 a.m.

The event is designed to raise money for the Noemi Pagan Scholarship which honors Pagan, 38, a fourth-grade teacher at Lorain’s Garfield Elementary School teacher who died from injuries sustained in a head-on collision on South Broadway in Sheffield Township in June 2010.

“This is a way to memorialize Noemi and keep her memory alive,” Michelle Nimene, Pagan’s sister-in-law said.

Families are welcome to join the event, as are pets, Nimene said.

The fund awarded two $750 scholarships to a pair of college-bound Lorain City Schools graduates earlier this year.

To register or for questions, call Nimene at (440) 258-9203.