YOUNGSTOWN Man gets 2 years in jail after $25,000 burglary

The home was burglarized in the middle of the day.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Boardman man who stole $25,000 cash and thousands more in jewelry was sent to prison Tuesday.
John D. Druzisky, 35, of Jaguar Drive, pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to one count of burglary. Judge James C. Evans immediately sentenced him to two years in prison, which prosecutors had recommended in a plea agreement.
Druzisky had nothing to say before the sentence was imposed. Judge Evans gave him credit for 270 days he's been held in the county jail awaiting trial. Ohio law requires that pretrial jail time be counted toward any post-conviction sentence.
Austintown Township police said Druzisky broke into a South Canfield-Niles Road home on Sept. 24, 2002, around 1 p.m. The occupants returned about two hours later to find their front door had been kicked in and their house had been ransacked.
A 200-pound safe had been taken from a closet in an upstairs bedroom and removed from the house, said Jeffrey Limbian, assistant prosecutor.
The safe contained the cash and some family heirloom jewelry.
Police recovered a fingerprint from a pane of glass inside the front door of the house. A check of prints on file in a state crime computer system showed a match with Druzisky's.
Where's the loot?
Police said some of the jewelry has been recovered, but the cash and the rest of the jewelry are still missing.
Defense attorney Mark Lavelle said prosecutors agreed to the minimum sentence for Druzisky because there is some question whether he acted alone or had help. No one else has been arrested in connection with the robbery.
Judge Evans said he could have sentenced Druzisky to as much as eight years in prison.
Lavelle said Druzisky also faces more prison time for violating conditions of his parole on unrelated cases.
In March 1993, Druzisky was imprisoned for charges including aggravated burglary and theft. He was released on parole in March 1999.
According to state prison records, Druzisky went back to prison in June 2000, again for aggravated burglary and theft. He was released on parole in May 2002.
bjackson@vindy.com