Friday, March 23, 2001
The South Side boys will be tried as adults.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Three 16-year-old boys accused of severely beating three people were indicted on felony charges Thursday by a Mahoning County grand jury.
Lamont Belcher of Willis Avenue and James Goins and Chad Barnette, both of East Indianola Avenue, are each charged with attempted aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated burglary, three counts of aggravated robbery, three counts of kidnapping, two counts of felonious assault and one count of receiving stolen property.
Belcher is also charged with single counts of failure to comply with a police order and possession of cocaine. They are being tried as adults.
Attacks: The South Side boys are accused of beating 85-year-old William Sovak and locking him in a fruit cellar at his Miller Street home. Sovak was hospitalized for his injuries and afterward had to be transferred to a rehabilitation facility.
The attempted murder counts are for the attack on Sovak.
Authorities say the three boys also assaulted Elizabeth Luchisan, 59, and her 63-year-old husband, Louis, of Marmion Avenue, by beating them with a sawed-off rifle and robbing them.
They took a 1998 Chevrolet Malibu from the Luchisans' garage, then crashed it during a police pursuit, police said.
Police caught Barnette and Belcher, the driver, in the car after the crash and caught Goins after a foot chase. The rifle allegedly used in the assault on the Luchisans was found in the car, police said.