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Police probe 2 armed robberies
Police made an arrest in one of the robberies.
YOUNGSTOWN — Police are investigating two separate armed robberies in the city that began as vehicle-purchase transactions.
Police charged Jermaine Watson, 31, of South Truesdale Avenue, with two counts of aggravated robbery for one of the incidents. Watson appeared Tuesday via video arraignment before Judge Robert Douglas of Youngstown Municipal Court.
Prosecutors told the judge that Watson had been convicted previously for trafficking in drugs and had been arrested for aggravated robbery. Judge Douglas set bond at $500,000.
According to police, Watson and two women met two men from the Cleveland area over the weekend on the East Side so the two men could buy a car from one of the women.
The two men told police they eventually drove with the trio to the area of Cleveland Street and Overland Avenue, where the two women got out of the van in which they were traveling and stood along its side.
The men told police Watson, still inside the van, turned toward one of the men, pulled a gun and demanded money. The man said he had no money on him, and he told Watson the money to purchase the car was in the bank. Watson, the man said, made him get out of the car and start walking.
The other man in the car said Watson then turned the gun toward him and demanded cash. Watson, the man said, took $150 and a cell phone before making him get out of the car and walk.
The men told police the women got back in the van and the trio drove away.
Watson, after a short foot chase, was arrested after the men took police back to the location where they first met the women. Watson was standing near the East Side home.
In a separate case, a 21-year-old Fairmont Avenue man told police he went to Logan and Dennick avenues on the North Side with a friend to sell his all-terrain vehicle, but was robbed at gunpoint.
The 21-year-old told police three men came running up to him as he and his friend got out of their vehicle. Two of the men were armed with guns, he said.
The man told police the thieves took his ATV, truck and wallet and his friend’s wallet.
jgoodwin@vindy.com