Warren man pleads guilty

The burglars used
surveillance equipment before some of the
burglaries.

WARREN — A 28-year-old Orris Drive Northwest man has accepted a plea agreement in connection with a burglary ring involving about 30 businesses and two other men.

Aron Toole pleaded guilty Monday to 15 counts of breaking and entering and one count of receiving stolen property, all fifth-degree felonies punishable by up to one year in prison.

He will be sentenced later in the courtroom of Judge Peter Kontos in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

In late November, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission announced the arrest of Toole and two accomplices, Jason Kirkpatrick, 28, also of Warren, and James Hunsbarger, 27, of Campbell.

Toole was indicted by a Trumbull County grand jury Sept. 20 on the breaking and entering, as well as seven counts of grand theft, one count of receiving stolen property and three counts of felony vandalism.

Kirkpatrick was indicted Oct. 30 by a Trumbull County grand jury on charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, 19 counts of breaking and entering, nine counts of grand theft and five counts of felony vandalism.

Kirkpatrick is in a Pennsylvania jail and will eventually return to Ohio to face local charges, said David Toepfer, an assistant county prosecutor. Kirkpatrick is in Pennsylvania facing federal charges, Toepfer said.

Hunsbarger pleaded in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Oct. 10 to two counts of breaking and entering and is scheduled to be sentenced later. His crimes were committed in Mahoning County, while Toole and Kirkpatrick committed theirs in Trumbull County, Toepfer said.

Among the break-ins Toole admitted were ones at a VFW post, Subway, Burlington Coat Factory, Tic Tac Dough, Check Into Cash, Radio Shack and Sparkle Market.

Police said the robberies occurred during 2006 and in the early months of 2007. The men are believed to have used surveillance equipment to monitor some of the businesses before breaking in.

In some of the burglaries, alarm systems had been disabled and entry had been gained from the roof or by cutting a hole in a wall from an adjacent business.