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Mock sentenced to 10 years in prison
YOUNGSTOWN — A man who admitted having a $1,200-a-day drug addiction was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty as charged to all 16 counts related to a host of break-ins and thefts all over the Youngstown area.
Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the prison time Friday on Bobby Joe Mock, 39, of Mahoning County Jail.
Mock was sentenced in the attempted theft of an ATM from St. Elizabeth Health Center and the theft of an ATM from Cornersburg Sparkle Market using an appliance dolly and stolen vehicles.
He was also sentenced for theft of two lawn mowers from Agnew Farm Equipment in Boardman and a break-in at the Dash Inn bar on Mahoning Avenue.
The Agnew break-in was in September 2005, and all the other offenses were committed in July 2007.
In the attempted theft of the ATM at St. Elizabeth, Mock and his accomplice, Brian Simione, 34, of Mayfield Avenue, tried to wheel the ATM out of the hospital but fled after it wouldn’t fit through the doorway.
Judge Durkin sentenced Simione to 18 months in prison in that incident.
Mock was charged with felonious assault against two hospital police officers in a cruiser that was struck by the getaway van the thieves were using.
“They were driving recklessly throughout the parking lot and out onto the main thoroughfare, so they didn’t even care about anybody’s safety,” said Tim Des- kin, a hospital security supervisor, who chased the suspects and was slightly injured when he fell out of their getaway van.
The judge said Mock’s sentence is contingent on his fulfilling his obligation to testify against co-defendants in a 15-member theft ring connected to theft of $400,000 worth of property in about 125 break-ins.
In the major theft-ring case, Mock, who was a ringleader, pleaded guilty as charged in April to all 44 counts against him in an appearance before visiting Judge Thomas P. Curran. The prosecution is recommending that Judge Curran impose a concurrent 10-year sentence for those crimes.
Mock told Judge Curran he has a crack cocaine addiction, and he told Judge Durkin he has suffered from alcohol and drug addiction for 25 years.
Mock, who apologized for his conduct, told Judge Durkin he was making no excuses for his actions, which he said were “very wrong.”
Calling a five- or six-year prison term adequate punishment, Mock’s lawyer, John Jeffrey Limbian, said Mock has engaged in “dastardly behavior” to support his drug addiction, but Mock was cooperative in telling police about crimes they wouldn’t otherwise have known about.
“He’s going away for 10 years. Ten years is a long time. I think it’s an appropriate sentence due to his extreme level of cooperation in the other matters,” said Kasey Shidel, assistant county prosecutor, who recommended the 10-year prison term.
Judge Durkin’s sentence will be concurrent to a 31‚Ñ2-year sentence imposed by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum for a probation violation.
When they arrested Mock for the St. Elizabeth incident at the Holiday Inn MetroPlex in Liberty, police apprehended him July 18, 2007, after a nine-hour standoff. Mock surrendered after police fired teargas into a hotel room there.
Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court sentenced Mock to one year in prison after he pleaded guilty to vandalism and inducing panic in the standoff.