By SHELLEY TERRY - Staff Writer - sterry@starbeacon.com
ASHTABULA — The man police believe cut an Ashtabula man’s throat Thursday during an argument over money made his initial appearance in court Friday.
Jeffrey M. Cover, 25, of Mentor-on-the-Lake, now faces a charge of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, according to Municipal Court officials.
His bond was set at $20,000, 10 percent cash or surety, officials said. He remained behind bars as of Friday afternoon, court officials said.
The incident was reported as a stabbing at about 5:15 a.m. Thursday in the 3500 block of Station Avenue, according to police reports.
The victim, a 39-year-old Station Avenue resident, was treated at Ashtabula County Medical Center and released, police said.
“A female at the residence called police when (the victim) came back into the apartment,” Detective Sgt. Joseph Cellitti said. “We put out a description of the (perpetrator’s) vehicle.”
Ashtabula police were immediately on the scene, investigating the incident and interviewing possible witnesses, while area law enforcement officers were on the lookout for the suspect’s vehicle.
Mentor police spotted Cover’s vehicle an hour or so later and arrested him on a warrant issued in June 2008, after he failed to appear in Ashtabula Municipal Court on a charge of driving under suspension, related to an incident that occurred Sept. 6, 2007, according to court records.
Cover was jailed overnight Thursday, and City Solicitor Michael Franklin charged him with felonious assault Friday, records show.
This is the second stabbing on Station Avenue in three weeks.
Police detectives have interviewed two men in connection with the Feb. 11 fatal stabbing of Robert Ezell, 37, of Roaming Shores, in the 4000 block of Station Avenue.
“We are still waiting for lab work to come back,” Cellitti said Friday.
Ezell died from multiple stab wounds to the chest and extremities, according to a preliminary report from the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office.
Police blocked the street that night, as they searched for the perpetrator.
Ezell’s stabbing death was the first homicide of the year in Ashtabula.
