BOARDMAN 2 men get jail in store robbery

One man is due in court April 15.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- A Christmas eve robbery at a local convenience store has landed two Youngstown men short jail sentences while a third party to still awaits his day in court.
Franklyn D. Fleming, 42, of Atkinson Avenue; Robert E. Spencer, 29, of Midlothian Boulevard; and James Standford Jr., 34, of Brooklyn Drive were all charged in January in connection with the robbery at Dairy Mart on Lockwood Boulevard.
Standford is charged with robbery, a felony. He is due back in court April 15, at 11:30 a.m.
The sentences: In a plea agreement, Spencer pleaded no contest to misdemeanor receiving stolen property and was sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 120 suspended, 12 months' probation and fined $50 and $50 in court costs. Spencer also agreed to testify when called on by police in the April court hearing.
Fleming pleaded no contest to misdemeanor theft and was sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 120 suspended, 12 months' probation and fined $50 plus $50 in court costs. Police said Fleming was charged with misdemeanor theft because police think he is guilty only of stealing a bag of potato chips from the store shelf.
According to police reports, around 4:40 p.m. Dec. 24, two men -- later determined by police to be Fleming and Standford -- entered the Dairy Mart store, where Fleming started eating a bag of potato chips from the shelves. The other man, believed to be Standford, asked to buy a pack of candy.
The 33-year-old cashier told police that as she opened the cash register to complete the sale, the man came behind the counter and snatched all the cash. She said he started pushing buttons on the safe, trying to get it open.
The two men jumped into a 1996 Oldsmobile, escaping with $60 worth of cash and merchandise. Police said the car had been stolen several days earlier. Initially, the men remained at large for a few weeks until police, investigating an unrelated matter, found the three men.
Police suspicious: Lt. J.D. Heaver said a township patrolman responded to a call Jan. 9 about a person, later discovered to be Spencer, on Chester Drive. The officer talked to Spencer, who had two screwdrivers in his pocket and a cellular telephone to which he did not know the phone number.
The officer took the screwdrivers and the phone, but released Spencer because he did not have any arrest warrants on file. Eventually police found out that the phone had been reported stolen in Youngstown.
Heaver said that when investigators later questioned Spencer about the phone, he confessed his part in the Dairy Mart robbery. Spencer told officers of the two other men involved.
jgoodwin@vindy.com