RAPE CASE Grand jury to hear evidence

The accuser alleged Antwon Lanier raped her at gunpoint on the South Side.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Mahoning County grand jury is expected to hear evidence of a Warren woman's allegation that Antwon Lanier forced her from a South Side bar at gunpoint to rape and rob her, a prosecutor says.
Lanier, 22, of East Midlothian Boulevard, was in city municipal court Monday on charges unrelated to the alleged rape. He is charged with the July 27 attempted murder and aggravated robbery of Elijah J. Jackson, 20, of Magnolia Avenue.
Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr. set bond at $500,000, approved a court-appointed lawyer and ordered electronically monitored house arrest if Lanier gets out of jail. Lanier told the judge he can't afford a lawyer; he's never worked.
Police used tear gas Friday to force Lanier from the attic of an East Side house. The attempted murder and aggravated robbery warrants were issued Aug. 17.
During arraignment, Dana C. Guarnieri, an assistant city prosecutor, told the judge that Lanier was indicted in January in an unrelated aggravated robbery case. Guarnieri also told the judge the rape case was sent over to the grand jury last week.
The aggravated robbery case is from December 2004 and is pending with Judge Jack M. Durkin in common pleas court.
In April, Lanier received a personal recognizance bond in the 2004 case and was placed on an emergency release from the Mahoning County jail in a separate Boardman court conviction of failure to comply with a police order. He must return to the jail at some point to finish serving 158 days in the Boardman case.
What woman alleges
The alleged rape was reported early Sept. 2 by a 22-year-old Warren woman. She told police she was forced out of Teenie's Tavern on South Avenue at gunpoint and raped in the front yard of a house with high bushes near Taft Elementary School on East Avondale Avenue.
Patrolman Frank Bigowsky checked the area around Taft and found a house with high bushes on East Avondale at the corner of Homestead Street. A used condom and its wrapper were found in the front yard near bushes and taken as evidence.
The woman, when interviewed by Bigowsky at St. Elizabeth Health Center, said she'd gone to the bar with a female friend. She said they were approached by two men, one later identified as Lanier.
The female friend had asked to see Lanier's license because she didn't believe he was old enough to drink. She remembered the birth date -- May 6, 1983 -- from the license.
A computer check of birth dates by police turned up Lanier, who also matched the description the accuser and her friend gave authorities.
The accuser told police Lanier followed her into the ladies' room and pulled out a large handgun, telling her, "Don't talk, scream or cry or I'll kill you and your friend." She said they walked to a back patio and then down Avondale, ending up in the front yard.
The Warren woman said she was raped after being threatened again to not make any noise. She said Lanier then wanted all her money and she gave him $6, reports show.
The woman told police Lanier looked at her identification, noted her address and said he'd come to her house and kill her if she told anyone what happened. She said he then forced her into the parking lot of The Evergreen's, another bar on South Avenue, trying to find her a ride back to Warren.
Bigowsky, seeing a crowd, pulled into the The Evergreen's lot around 3 a.m. after finding Teenie's closed. He had been sent to Teenie's in response to a report of a woman missing from the bar.
The Warren woman saw Bigowsky and flagged him down. She told him she'd been raped and the assailant had just left on foot.
Within minutes, police followed an old Cadillac they spotted on Florida Avenue after seeing someone get into it. Officers lost sight of the car after it sped off.
meade@vindy.com