Bar managers work with police to deter robberies

One bar manager is adding more lighting as a crime deterrent.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Dark alleys provide just the right cover to leave the South Avenue bar corridor on foot after a holdup.
Since the robberies began -- roughly six in the past month or so -- only one possible getaway car has been seen.
The black suspects' descriptions range from 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet 2 inches, 160 to 260 pounds, late teens to late 30s. Concealment usually includes a "hoodie," slang for a hooded sweatshirt.
The robber who shot the bartender's boyfriend at the Coconut Grove, 3229 South, wore a dark brown hoodie and a jacket with a dragon on the back. The robber who shot the security guard at Patsy's, 2303 South, wore a gray hoodie. Both men had a mustache and goatee.
The thugs are confident -- and bold, said Police Chief Robert E. Bush Jr. He thinks they live in the neighborhood or park away from their targets then casually stroll back to their ride so they don't attract attention.
The condensed stretch of liquor establishments on South, not far from the border with Boardman, generally attract an older, loyal clientele. Bar owners and their patrons are on alert and watching out for one another.
Gergel's, at 3305 South, hired a security guard for its fenced-in parking lot. Owner Chris Gergel said her place already had good outdoor lighting and a buzzer at the front door.
"This can happen anywhere," Gergel said of the robberies. "Unfortunately, they're targeting one area now -- here."
Her barmaid was robbed at the end of June, before the latest spree, but didn't get a look at the man because he came up from behind.
Lori Greenwalt, who manages East Side Civics at 2729 South, said the private club, equipped with a buzzer at the door, has four surveillance cameras and two more have been ordered. She also ordered a 1,000-watt light for the parking lot.
"Lighting has so much to do with it," Greenwalt said of the crime-prevention tool.
Bush agreed.
"There's a lot of dark alleys on South between the buildings," he said. "It's easy to navigate your way out of the area on foot."
Bush said he encourages business owners to install more lighting.
Description
Greenwalt said getting a good description of the robber is difficult in the dark and because the victims are scared as the crime unfolds. "When I was a bartender years ago I was robbed and you just don't know what to do with a gun in your face."
Greenwalt said one of her patrons, a woman, was robbed of $20 in East Side Civics' parking lot about 30 minutes before Patsy's bar was hit.
The victim told police that the gunman approached as she got out of her car. She tossed him $5 then $20 more from her jacket and he ran away.
"They mostly seem to be after the person who is alone but going into the bars -- that's radical," Greenwalt said of the holdups at the Coconut Grove and Patsy's. "Our customers aren't really afraid, just more alert and the guys here will walk [women] to their cars."
Greenwalt said blinds on windows in the East Side Civics pool room, which abuts the parking lot, are left open at night so movement in the lot can be observed.
Gergel and Greenwalt have noticed and say they're thankful for increased police patrols. Some of the officers are using unmarked cars.
The chief said he intends to rent what he calls "soft cars," the kind regular people drive as opposed to dark-colored Ford Crown Victorias, which scream "unmarked police car." Cops in the rental cars will do surveillance of the bar area.
Bush said it's possible one or more of the robbery suspects are already in custody, having been arrested on old warrants or driving under suspension.
Charges
The chief said it's not uncommon to end a crime spree without charging the suspect with the actual offense. As an example, he explained that a string of break-ins with jukeboxes as the target stopped last month after a prime suspect was picked up for driving under suspension.
Bush said Detective Sgts. Jerry Shuster and Brad Blackburn are aggressively working the robbery cases and sharing information with bar owners. Armed robberies, with the potential for injury, are a high priority, the chief said.
Drugs are likely somewhere in the chain of events, Bush said.
"I'm hearing rumblings that a couple of gangs are trying to get established on the South Side and I want to put a plug in that right now," Bush said. "I'm not saying it's a teen gang doing this but if it is, I want them identified. I don't want them to get entrenched."
The chief said the new gangs are Triple Threat, from Ravenwood Avenue, and Dale Block Boys, from Avondale Avenue.
meade@vindy.com