YOUNGSTOWN Robber receives 8-year sentence

The defendant said he'd been hanging out with the wrong kind of people.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Brian Rodriguez told a judge he was standing a block away when two friends robbed a pizza delivery man with toy guns, and that he stayed outside while they robbed a Campbell bar two days later.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court said that was close enough to merit a trip to prison for Rodriguez. He sentenced the baby-faced 18-year-old from Campbell to eight years in a state penitentiary.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty in June to four counts of robbery. Defense attorney Joseph Rafidi pleaded for mercy before Thursday's sentencing, asking that his client be placed on probation. He said Rodriguez has no prior criminal record and was "strong-armed" into the crimes by the two accomplices.
In court documents, Rafidi described Rodriguez as a "people person" who likes helping people and who hopes to some day open his own tattoo parlor.
The judge sentenced Rodriguez to two years for each count, and ordered them served consecutively. Rodriguez, who apologized for what he'd done, didn't even blink when the sentence was imposed.
Assistant prosecutor Patrick R. Pochiro said Rodriguez was among three Campbell teenagers who planned and pulled off the robberies in March. William Seawood, 19, pleaded guilty two weeks ago to the same charges and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
A 15-year-old boy also is charged, and his case is pending in juvenile court.
Rodriguez said he didn't actually wield a gun or rob anyone. His job was to stand as a lookout while the other two held their toy guns on the victims and robbed them.
But Judge Krichbaum said his actions as an aider and abettor make Rodriguez as guilty as the others.
Rodriguez, dressed in tan pants and a cream-colored shirt, said he has been bothered by the robberies since they happened.
"I can't sleep at night," he said, peering upward at the judge. "It's just tearing me apart. I know I caused some people to be pretty upset."
His primary mistake, Rodriguez said, was hanging out with the wrong people.
"Hanging around with the wrong people is not a defense," Judge Krichbaum said. "Hanging around with the wrong people, in some cases, is a crime in itself."
What happened
Pochiro said the trio ordered Brier Hill pizza for delivery March 14. When the delivery man showed up at the Reed Avenue address they'd given, Seawood and the juvenile met him in the driveway and pointed guns at his head. They ordered him to the ground and stole about $30, a cellular telephone and some pizzas from him.
Two days later, they robbed a barmaid and some patrons at Chick's Place, a bar on Robinson Road, getting away with about $20. Pochiro said none of the victims realized the guns were fake.
bjackson@vindy.com