Convicted killer faces charges of shooting at police

The double murderer has been sent to prison for life without parole.

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — A Mahoning County grand jury indicted a convicted double murderer on charges of shooting at 14 police officers in the New Year’s Day 2006 standoff that ended in his arrest for those murders.

Also Thursday, the grand jury indicted a woman suspected of endangering the welfare of a 16-year-old boy who she reported missing 51⁄2 years ago, and a man accused of shooting and critically wounding his brother this month.

The grand jury indicted Jermaine McKinney, 27, and charged him with 14 counts of felonious assault with firearm specifications to all counts on allegations he shot at 13 city police officers and a Liberty police officer during a four-hour standoff at a Halleck Street house. There were no injuries.

McKinney was sentenced Nov. 29, 2006, to life in prison without parole eligibility for the Dec. 21, 2005, aggravated murders of Wanda Rollyson and her daughter Rebecca Cliburn in Rollyson’s Newton Township home. McKinney has appealed those convictions.

Child endangering

Also indicted was Jennifer Lynn Snyder, 34, of Pyatt Street, charged with tampering with evidence, endangering children, permitting child abuse and gross abuse of a corpse June 15, 2001. The child endangering and permitting child abuse charges mention 16-year-old James Higham as the victim.

Police had issued a warrant for Snyder’s arrest in 2002 after she told them Higham had run away Jan. 3 of that year. Police interviewed her in January 2002, and she disappeared before an investigation led to issuance of that warrant.

Snyder and her live-in boyfriend David Sharpe, of Manchester Avenue, were the boy’s guardians. Sharpe was charged with 28 counts of child endangering.

Friends and family members then said Higham had been missing for months and they feared he might have been a victim of foul play. They told police the guardians prevented them from seeing or talking to the boy for months.

County Prosecutor Paul Gains declined to comment on the case, which he said is still under investigation.

The grand jury also indicted Anthony Peeples, 40, of Atkinson Avenue, on an attempted murder charge in the Aug. 22 wounding of his brother, Robert Peeples, 44, of East Cleveland, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds in a house at 1531⁄2 S. Truesdale Ave. Anthony Peeples was also indicted on an aggravated burglary charge alleging he trespassed at that house to commit a crime that day. Both charges carry firearm specifications.

Investigators said the shooting stemmed from a family dispute. Anthony Peeples was arrested later that day in the Roosevelt Park pavilion in Campbell and jailed in lieu of $850,000 bond.

More indictments

Others indicted are:

UBryan R. Harris, 22, of Leroy Avenue, Akron, carrying concealed weapons.

UJeremy Welsh, 27, of Alliance, intimidation.

UKenneth A. Coleman, 19, of Dorado Beach Drive, Canfield, felonious assault.

URaphe Neapolitan, 19, of Pineview Avenue, misdemeanor assault.

UBennie Lewis, 49, of Palmer Avenue, Campbell, two counts of receiving stolen property.

UJon K. Scott, 33, of Poland Avenue, Struthers, cocaine possession.

UAndrew S. Franko, 49, of Perry Street, Struthers, cocaine possession.

UElmer W. Hanshaw, 57, of Chambers Street, Campbell, failure to report change of address after a rape conviction.

UMarlo Burney, 39, of Canfield Road, cocaine possession.

UTashaunna M. Perkins, 22, of East Philadelphia Avenue, forgery and identity fraud.

UJoy D. Grace, also known as Joy Williams, 41, of Redondo Road, vehicular assault.

UJerry Bowman, 23, of Homewood Avenue, burglary.

UQuincy J. Burgess, 33, of North Maryland Avenue, cocaine possession.

UKionna T. White, 24, of Lexington Avenue, cocaine and heroin possession.

URobert Bell, 28, of Taft Avenue, domestic violence and felonious assault.

URaymond L. Pankey, 51, of West Spring Street, failure to report change of address after a sexual battery conviction.

UCriston D. Williams, 23, of Whipple Avenue, Campbell, felonious assault.

UGerri A. King, 26, of Kingston Lane, heroin possession and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

UEthan Zalovcik, 28, of Sixth Street, Campbell, heroin possession.

UJohn Lacerva, 40, of North Ward Avenue, Girard, cocaine possession.

UJamal W. Perkins, 26, of Phelps Street, theft.

ULavonne M. Brown, 37, of North Meridian Road, Austintown, receiving stolen property.

UKimberly Wilson-Talley, 40, of Woodside Avenue, theft.

UJazzmen Blackmon, 22, of Lake Drive, heroin possession.

UJohn Kalosky, 35, of Deer Creek Court, Austintown, abduction.

URichard Watkins, 48, of South Truesdale Avenue or Moherman Avenue, heroin possession.

URonald Stevens, 35, of Hanley Avenue, domestic violence.

UJesse R. Ludwick, 24, of Rockdale Avenue, Boardman, domestic violence.

UBrian S. Gasior, 39, of Garfield Street, Struthers, failure to report to the Community Corrections Association.

The grand jury also secretly indicted two John Does on eight counts of cocaine trafficking.

The grand jury declined to indict Kevin Pullen and Anthony Bonner on charges of being a felon with a firearm, Regina Jones on a felonious assault charge, Richard Norris on a drug possession charge, and Andre Bailey on charges of being a felon with a firearm and improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle.