Friday, March 17, 2006
YOUNGSTOWN -- What started out as a simple retail theft at a grocery store ended up with more serious charges for a Superior Street man.
Police said Charles Menton, 35, and Latoya Drayton-Washington, 24, both of Superior Street, are accused of trying to steal $33 worth of food and other items from Sparkle Market at 1912 Mahoning Ave. shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Officers arriving at the scene said they found Menton wrestling with a store security officer on the floor in the store's office.
Menton also resisted attempts to be taken into custody, police said.
He spent the night in Mahoning County jail and was arraigned before Judge Elizabeth Kobly in municipal court Wednesday on charges of robbery, resisting arrest and criminal damaging. She ordered him returned to jail with bond set at $50,000.
Drayton-Washington was arraigned Thursday and will be back in court March 23 for a pretrial. She was given a court summons and released.
Police said Menton also is accused of breaking the office computer during his struggles with the store security officer.
The security officer told police that Menton had been in the store about two hours earlier and was suspected of stealing some items that time too.