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Burglar given 15 years in prison
A victim’s daughter said the burglar preyed on the sick and elderly.
YOUNGSTOWN — A notorious home invader and serial burglar whose crime spree spanned seven Mahoning County communities is going to prison for 15 years.
Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the sentence Friday on Charles L. Zimmerman, 37, of Hunter Street.
The sentence is nonappealable because it was agreed to by the prosecution and defense and adopted by the judge.
Zimmerman had earlier pleaded guilty as charged to seven counts of burglary, two counts of aggravated burglary, and one count each of robbery, kidnapping, theft and disrupting public services.
His sentence consisted of a combined concurrent term of five years for all those crimes, plus 10 consecutive years for a repeat-violent- offender specification.
Had Zimmerman received maximum consecutive sentences on all counts, he could have gone to prison for 106 1‚Ñ2 years.
Zimmerman, who will get credit for the 311 days he has already been jailed, committed his crimes in Youngstown and Struthers and in Coitsville, Poland, Boardman, Beaver and Goshen townships in December 2007 and January 2008.
Michael J. McBride, assistant county prosecutor, credited the joint efforts of multiple police agencies for the January apprehension of Zimmerman in Campbell, after a manhunt that began on Youngstown’s East Side, and for the prosecution of Zimmerman.
McBride said he made the plea bargain to spare the elderly victims the ordeal of testifying in a trial.
“He has preyed on the weak, the sick and elderly, evoking their trust, only to violate them in their own homes,” said Maria E. DeLost of Struthers.
DeLost’s elderly mother, who had occupied her Youngstown residence since 1955, became one of Zimmerman’s victims last Dec. 22.
“She has not spent a single day in her home since Charles Zimmerman invaded her life, stole her trust, and with intent and deceit, stole her money, my dad’s coins and my mother’s personal belongings,” DeLost said, calling upon the judge to impose the maximum sentence.
Praising the efforts of Youngstown police, DeLost added: “I hope that their work was not in vain, and that this is one low-life repeat criminal who will not be on the streets again to prey on other vulnerable citizens.”
Another of Zimmerman’s crimes was the invasion of the Shady Run Road home of an 84-year-old man. The victim told police he heard a sound at his back door, and a man pushed his way inside. The victim was punched, and his wallet was taken.
On New Year’s Day, an 86-year-old Poland Township woman reported Zimmerman came to her home offering to make home repairs. She let him in, and, after he left, she found her drawers rifled through, her purse missing and her telephone service disrupted.
Zimmerman’s lawyer, Douglas King, said his client’s actions are indefensible, but he explained that Zimmerman committed the crimes to support his drug addiction. King said he did not know Zimmerman to be a violent person.
Saying he wasn’t a violent person, Zimmerman apologized to his victims and said he stole to support his drug habit.
When he was released from a prior prison term, Zimmerman said he self-medicated with street drugs because he couldn’t afford the medications prescribed for him for mental health purposes.
“I’m a changed man now,” Zimmerman said. “When I come out, I’m done. I’m a retired convict.”
Zimmerman was convicted of theft and sentenced to three years in prison after he bilked an 88-year-old Boardman woman out of about $7,000 for home repairs that either weren’t done or were done poorly in 2004.
His repeat-violent-offender specification stems from a 1998 burglary conviction.
milliken@vindy.com