4 charged in rash of crimes

By Ed Runyan

The crimes included attempted carjackings and robbery.

YOUNGSTOWN — Four Trumbull County people have been charged in the Nov. 19 crime spree that started with three failed carjackings in Austintown, Lake Milton and Bazetta and ended in a Lordstown bank robbery and suicide for a fifth person involved.

For all the lawlessness, the total in cash and property taken that day was $4,047. The possible penalty each of the surviving suspects could get is between 15 and 25 years in federal prison.

Reginald Cherry, 23, of Delaware Avenue, Warren; Ro’Ceme Jethrow, 28, of state Route 46 in Cortland; and Shontell Williams, 23, of Belmont Avenue Northwest in Warren all have been charged in federal court with armed bank robbery, which carries a possible penalty of 25 years in prison.

Natasa Weekley, 29, of Warren has been charged in the same court with attempted robbery of a motor vehicle, which carries a possible penalty of 15 years in prison.

An affidavit filed in the case says Cherry, Jethrow, Natasa Weekley and the dead man, Donnell Weekley, 25, of Hall Avenue Northwest, Warren, committed their first illegal act at 11:30 a.m., when they attempted to take a car from a female in the parking lot of Aldi’s, 5863 Mahoning Ave., Austintown.

One man pointed a gun at the woman and demanded her purse and keys while another stood by, but the woman ran back toward Aldi’s, the affidavit says.

The men ran toward the nearby Wal-Mart parking lot, where they got into a car and left. A Wal-Mart security camera caught the car’s license plate. Police used the information later to arrest Natasa Weekley while she was driving the car.

About 11:55 a.m., the group attempted to steal a pickup truck from a man washing it at Wash Me Carwash, 283 Grandview Road, Lake Milton, the affidavit says.

Two men approached the truck owner, one of them pointed a revolver at him, made him kneel down behind the truck and told him not to look up.

The men drove the truck only a short distance away, then abandoned it, apparently because it contained an OnStar car safety device system, the affidavit said.

About 1:07 p.m., the group tried to commit another carjacking — from a woman in the Wal-Mart parking lot, 2016 Millennium Blvd., in Bazetta Township, the affidavit says. This time there was no female accomplice, but a fourth man, Williams, had been added.

Two of the men approached the woman, pointed a handgun at her and asked for her keys. Other people saw what was happening and began to yell for help. The woman “pushed the gun away and ran to the other side of her vehicle,” the affidavit said. The men got back into their vehicle and left.

The bank robbery, at Cavalier Federal Credit Union, 2255 Salt Springs Road, occurred about 2:45 p.m. with the same four people involved, three of whom entered the bank wearing masks, and Cherry remaining in the car, the affidavit said. The four got $4,047.

Three of the suspects fled to a house at 557 Breaden St. on Youngstown’s South Side, where Donnell Weekley, 25, shot himself. Police also arrested Cherry and Jethrow there.

Brett Milhoan, Lordstown police chief, said the Trumbull County prosecutor’s office has determined that no local charges will be filed at this time with regard to the carjackings because federal charges have been filed.

runyan@vindy.com