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Teen faces robbery charges
The boy was wanted on a warrant for felonious assault.
YOUNGSTOWN — Police arrested a 16-year-old boy inside a vacant South Side house, where he was taking shelter, and charged him with two counts of aggravated robbery with firearm specifications for armed robberies several hours earlier.
A concerned citizen told police the teen, Jermaine Tarver, who was a suspect in numerous recent aggravated robberies in the neighborhood, was living in a house at 30 E. Boston Ave., which has been vacant for two weeks but still had electric service.
Looking in from outside the house, police saw lights and a TV on in the house and three stove burners lit, and they called the fire department to the scene because they smelled a strong natural-gas odor.
After nobody responded to their knocks, police said they forced their way into the house out of concern for the welfare of any occupants and found clothing matching the robbery victims’ description of what the robber was wearing and a .22-caliber revolver with two live rounds in it.
Police found and arrested Tarver, who gave a Cedar Lane address, at 11:05 p.m. Monday, hiding in the attic, wearing only an oversized coat, sweat pants, a T-shirt and socks. Tarver, who was wanted on a warrant for felonious assault, was taken to Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center after his arrest.
“We have over 10 robberies that we’re looking at, and we’re still investigating to determine whether he was involved in them or not,” said Lt. Kevin Mercer, commander of the city police street-crimes unit. Police will try to determine if earlier robbery victims can identify Tarver in a lineup, Mercer said.
“We haven’t gotten to the details to figure out how or why he was on his own,” trying to stay warm in a vacant house at the age of 16, Mercer said. The lieutenant said he wasn’t sure if the arrest warrant from juvenile court caused Tarver to flee from his home.
He also said it’s still unclear whether the teen is enrolled in school because detectives just began investigating his background Tuesday morning.
Police also found in the house a loaf of bread and a pop bottle matching the description of items taken at gunpoint in the 3200 block of Southern Boulevard at 5:15 p.m. Monday from a 47-year-old East Lucius Avenue man. That man, who was walking home after having just bought these items from a nearby convenience store, also was robbed of his wallet and watch.
The other armed robbery, with which Tarver is charged, occurred in the 3100 block of Southern Boulevard at 7:13 p.m. and reportedly netted the boy $4.50. The 59-year-old victim of that robbery said he heard knocking on his door and went outside to investigate.
The boy jumped out of a first-floor window of an adjacent vacant house, pointed a handgun at him and demanded money, the victim told police. Police conducted an unsuccessful police-dog search for the suspect after that robbery.
Police also recovered from the vacant house on Boston Avenue a cellular phone matching the description of one taken from an earlier robbery victim.
milliken@vindy.com