5 face charges in rare burglary at Poland home

This marks the first burglary in the village in years, the police chief said.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

POLAND — Persistence doesn’t always pay off — at least it appears not for four adults and a juvenile charged in a home burglary.

Village police arrested four adults and a 14-year-old boy, all from Columbiana County, after a Nesbitt Street woman reported that her home had been burglarized.

Police said the woman’s house was burglarized once while she wasn’t home and the burglars returned a second time the same day.

The victim arrived home and heard a knock at her door. When she answered it, the men said they were looking for someone named Travis.

“There was no Travis there,” said Police Chief Russell Beatty Jr.

The men left, but it seemed suspicious to the woman. She then saw that a screen had been removed from an apartment in the rear of the house and called police.

The woman found that her house had been broken into and jewelry taken.

“They knocked on her door and when there was no answer, they broke in,” Beatty said.

The victim returned home before they returned to try to collect more items, police believe.

“This is the first burglary we’ve had here in years,” the chief said.

Detective Don Lambert responded to the Nesbitt home where he got a description of the suspects.

Beatty caught up to the four males, who were on foot, on U.S. Route 224 and Marion Drive, and police arrested them.

Jeremy Fristik, 20, of New Waterford, was charged with resisting arrest and aggravated burglary. Beatty said officers found a knife in Fristik’s pocket along with jewelry that had been taken from the home. Fristik struggled with police, resulting in the resisting charge, the chief said.

Franklin Quinones, 19, of East Palestine, was charged with aggravated burglary. The boy, 14, also of East Palestine, was charged with aggravated burglary, receiving stolen property and carrying a concealed weapon.

Beatty said the boy had a handgun, with the serial number ground off, tucked into his pants. When police approached, the boy tossed the gun into some bushes.

Two women, Jessica Young, 19, of East Palestine, and Rachel Townsend, 18, of New Waterford, both were charged with complicity to aggravated burglary.

Police said that Townsend is four months pregnant. The two women are accused of driving the car that dropped the two men and one boy off in the neighborhood.

“The girls were supposed to come back and pick the guys back up,” Beatty said. “We got to them and picked them up first.”

The two men were in the Mahoning County Jail, and their preliminary hearings are set for Sept. 21. The women are to appear in court next week. The boy’s case will be heard in Mahoning County Juvenile Court.