Grand jury to get home break-in case

The suspects’ bond was reduced to $150,000 each.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — The case of two brothers accused of trying to break into a West Side house while a woman and her 2-year-old son were upstairs has been bound over to a Mahoning County grand jury.

Bryandon M. Rutland, 19, and Antwaine H. Rutland, 22, both of Volney Road, waived their preliminary hearing Thursday in municipal court. They are charged with attempted burglary and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle. Misdemeanor charges of criminal damaging were dismissed.

Each had his $300,000 bond reduced to $150,000, the bailiff said. The Rutlands were still in jail as of Thursday afternoon.

Police said the Rutlands attempted to enter a house in the 1600 block of Price Road around 12:30 p.m. Jan. 14, and guns were found in a 1988 Lincoln Town Car registered to their father. The Rutlands are the sons of city Patrolman Chris Rutland, according to a police report.

The victim said she had taken her son upstairs for a nap and was reading when she heard glass break under the window. She thought it was the wind but then heard someone trying to get into the kitchen and called 911.

The 911 center told the 26-year-old woman to stay upstairs and that police were on the way. Officers, she said, arrived within two minutes. It wasn’t long before 911 told her it was OK to go downstairs and that two men were in custody in the driveway.

Patrolman Dan Mikus said in his report that Bryandon Rutland was wearing thin, clear, plastic hospital-type gloves, the kind that would prevent the transfer of fingerprints and prevent gunshot residue from getting on hands. The officer found two sets of footprints in the snow that led to the side door.

The side-door window was broken, but the door, which has a deadbolt that requires a key inside and outside, was intact.

Mikus said the two suspects also went to the back door to attempt entry but that’s when police arrived.

An inventory of the Lincoln before it was towed turned up a loaded 9mm semiautomatic handgun under the passenger seat and a loaded .38-caliber revolver under the driver’s seat. The serial number had been scratched off the revolver, reports show. A pair of binoculars was also found in the car.