Woman fails to attend sentencing, is arrested

STAFF REPORT

AUSTINTOWN — Police arrested a woman Wednesday who was absent from sentencing for her involvement in an alleged kidnapping, robbery and burglary last year, according to police records.

Jasmin M. Fletcher, 19, of Youngstown, is being held in the Mahoning County jail. Township police executed a warrant for her arrest to answer an indictment for three counts of felony kidnapping, one count of felony aggravated robbery and one count of felony aggravated burglary.

Fletcher pleaded guilty earlier this year to felony charges of burglary and attempted robbery, in exchange for dropping the kidnapping charges and gun specifications on all five charges. Prosecutors were to recommend three years of community control. But Fletcher did not show up for her sentencing in June, according to court records.

The charges against Fletcher stemmed from her alleged involvement in a five-person burglary in Austintown in July 2008. Witness accounts place Fletcher at the residence earlier that day and during the gun-point robbery.

The victims said that they were awakened with water splashed on their faces as unidentified gun-wielding robbers ransacked the home, taking cash, checks, a cell phone and wallets, among other items.

According to the report, the victims recognized Fletcher, who they said was at the home earlier that day complaining about stolen drugs.

When the suspects left, the victims called the police from a neighbor’s house.