Man sentenced to 9-year term for robbery

By Ed Runyan

An Austintown police officer said he witnessed the robbery and caught the robbers red-handed.

YOUNGSTOWN — Saying first-time offenders don’t get a lighter sentence in his court, Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced a 20-year-old Austintown man to nine years in prison for his role in robbing two pizza delivery drivers.

J. Michael Thompson, an assistant county prosecutor, said the prosecution will not oppose judicial release for Marc A. Haney, of Kerrybrook Drive in Austintown, when he becomes eligible after 61‚Ñ2 years in prison.

Thompson said Haney has no previous criminal history but picked one of the worst crimes possible to begin his criminal career — robbing at gunpoint — and was nailed red-handed by an Austintown police officer who witnessed the crime.

“It doesn’t matter whether he has any priors,” Judge Krichbaum said as he prepared to sentence Haney. “People have the mistaken idea that first offenders should be treated differently.”

He added that in a sense Haney does have a prior record because he committed two crimes instead of just one.

Furthermore, Judge Krichbaum said, he doesn’t believe in merging the penalty for two crimes into one sentence — called concurrent sentences — so Haney will serve prison sentences for both crimes.

“I don’t give a discount for multiple crimes,” Judge Krichbaum said.

And lastly, regarding the argument forwarded by Haney’s attorney, David J. Gerchak, and Haney’s mother, Tanya Robertson, that Haney has a drug problem, Judge Krichbaum said:

“People have the mistaken idea that this is the Red Cross. I’m not here to help robbers. I’m here to hurt robbers. The law says I am to punish the offender. I’m not really all that concerned about his problems.”

Haney and Matthew Sarra, 23, of Clifton Drive in Boardman, both pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated robbery in February for the two crimes. A gun specification was added to Haney’s two charges because he committed the second robbery while using a handgun.

The possible sentence for the robberies is three to 10 years in prison each, plus three more years for committing one of the crimes with a gun.

Thompson said he will recommend a six-year prison term for Sarra. Judge Krichbaum will sentence him at 9 a.m. April 30.

Haney and Sarra robbed two pizza delivery men Nov. 11 and Nov. 25 at abandoned townhouses within a couple of blocks of each other on Woodhurst Drive in Austintown.

During the first robbery, Sarra used a knife when the two took about $130 in cash from a Pizza Hut driver.

In the second robbery, Sarra used a knife and Haney used a gun to rob a driver from Papa John’s.

But Austintown patrolman Justin Coulter was in the area, along with Patrolman Shawn Hevener, when the second robbery took place at about 11 p.m. He was monitoring a drug house nearby and saw the two conceal themselves in some bushes before the victim drove up with the pizza. The victim tried to deliver the pizza to an apartment, but there was no answer.

Sarra and Haney left their hiding place and confronted the victim, taking about $49 in cash (some of it the driver’s own money), plus the driver’s cell phone and wallet.

After the robbery, Serra and Haney ran right toward the officer, who ordered the men to drop their weapons and arrested them.

Serra and Haney were taken into custody and later confessed to the robberies, Thompson said, adding that the work of the Austintown Police Department made the case an easy one to prosecute.

“It was fabulous work by the police department,” he said.

runyan@vindy.com