YOUNGSTOWN Boy, 15, accused in home burglary

The elderly resident pushed an alarm button in the bedroom.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 15-year-old boy is in custody and a detective has leads on two others accused of terrorizing an elderly couple during a burglary in their East Side home.
"It frightened us because we're old. They shook us up, pushed us around. They were strong; we had no defense," said Lucile Sturdevant, 81. "You're just petrified when something like this happens in daylight. It was so unexpected."
Police identified the boy as Anthony Skinner of Victor Avenue.
Detective Sgt. Tony Longmire said today that the boy, now in custody at the juvenile justice center, will be charged with aggravated burglary.
The detective said that, as far as he's been able to determine, the boy has no prior criminal history.
Longmire said he hoped to have two other suspects, who are in their late teens or early 20s, arrested today.
"I can't praise that man enough," Sturdevant said today of Longmire's efforts. "He came here with the crime unit for fingerprints ... walked all through here and then went up to Kimmelbrook and got the name of the juvenile and leads on the others."
Kimmelbrook, renamed Rockford Village, is a subsidized housing project nearby that includes Victor Street.
Sturdevant said she was on the phone Tuesday afternoon and her husband, Carl, 84, was sitting in his recliner, watching TV with the captions on instead of the sound. They both have hearing problems.
The Sturdevants have been in their Atkinson Avenue home more than 50 years. The house is equipped with a panic alarm, which Longmire said was a very good idea because it drove off the intruders.
What happened
Mrs. Sturdevant said the three burglars came through the back yard to the side door and hollered "It's a robbery! It's a robbery!" One of the robbers pulled on the locked screen door and then broke the lock.
She said she tried to push him and the others out but was too weak.
"I said 'Get out! Get out!' but they were three husky boys and they pushed me out of the way," she said, recalling the terror.
"One of them ripped the phone off the wall."
During the scuffle, Mrs. Sturdevant was slammed into a table and held in the kitchen.
When the intruders spotted her husband, they "mauled him" and demanded money, she said. "I said, 'We have no money,' but they said, 'We know you have money.'"
She said two of the intruders pulled drawers out looking for something to steal and took a small box with earrings in it.
Her husband made his way to the bedroom and pushed the panic alarm button, which sounded throughout the house. It also alerted the neighbors.
The intruders "took off running when the panic alarm sounded," she said.
"Fortunately, we have that alarm system."
meade@vindy.com