A case of tough love for suspect's mom

A mother says she tipped off the FBI after seeing a picture of her son robbing a bank.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CHAMPION -- The mother of bank robbery suspect Adam Carson says her son deserves punishment behind bars, but treatment for his drug addiction as well.
"I know he's going to have to go to jail for what he's done," Darlene Lipscomb said Wednesday after her son's capture.
Carson, who turned 24 today, was taken into custody without incident late Tuesday at a friend's home on Potic Avenue in Leavittsburg.
Carson had been on the run since a robbery Friday of the First Place Bank in the Elm Road Plaza in Warren.
Warren police Detective Jeffrey Hoolihan said authorities received information of his whereabouts about 7 p.m. Unmarked cars were stationed in the area until he could muster more Warren and Warren Township police, federal marshals and FBI agents.
Captured
About four hours later, Hoolihan explained, police went into the house and "caught him by surprise" lying on a bedroom floor.
No weapon was found, but he did have a "large amount of cash," which the detective said he thinks is from the robbery.
Hoolihan said Carson's girlfriend, who was with him at the time of his arrest, and his friend with whom he was staying were released after questioning. He said it appears they had no prior knowledge of the robbery.
Carson, son of Trumbull County Administrator Tony Carson, was ordered held in the county jail without bond by Warren Municipal Judge Terry Ivanchak. He'll have a preliminary hearing at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday.
It's been a case of tough love for Lipscomb: She's the one who called the FBI to tell agents it was her son pictured on a bank surveillance video that appeared in the press.
"I had a big problem telling them he was my son. I love him," said Lipscomb, who lives in Champion where she operates a hair salon.
"It was the hardest thing I ever did in my life," she added. "It broke my heart."
Lipscomb says her son isn't dangerous and never had a gun. She feared, though, that if he got away with robbery, it would lead him to do something worse.
She credits Hoolihan and two FBI agents she wouldn't identify for their understanding and caring about her and her son while he was on the run.
History of assault
Carson has a history of assaults. The assault charges against him were filed by Lipscomb, she explained, because she wanted him off the streets so he couldn't take drugs.
"He's a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Lipscomb said in explaining her son's actions when he takes drugs and when he's off them.
She said her son holds the door open for others when he's off drugs and has been cited for academic achievement while attending Kent State University for 21/2 years.
During the six years he's been on drugs, Lipscomb said, he's been through three drug-treatment programs.
Lipscomb said her son was living with her and her family. He broke up May 14 with his girlfriend at the time and slipped into depression.
On July 1, she told of getting up in the morning and her son wasn't home. "I knew he was on drugs again," she remarked.
Lipscomb is concerned for her son's future. She would rather see him in federal rather than a state prison. He'd be safer physically in a federal facility where he had a better chance of receiving treatment for his addiction, she said.
In the long term, she questions what will become of him. "Who's going to hire a convicted felon?" she asked.
yovich@vindy.com