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Police probe jewelry robberies
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
YOUNGSTOWN
Police are investigating two separate incidents of residents robbed of jewelry while standing in the driveway of their homes.
Police spoke to the guardians of a 17-year-old East High School student Wednesday after it was learned the teenage girl had been robbed at gunpoint a few days earlier. The girl said she did not tell police because she is fearful of retaliation from the men who robbed her.
The girl’s grandmother told police the girl was standing in the driveway of the Shehy Street home at 11 p.m. when a 17-year-old boy with whom she is acquainted came to the house. The boy was with another boy the girl does not know.
The woman said one of the boys pointed a gun at the girl and demanded the gold chain she was wearing. The girl handed over the jewelry, and both youths ran off.
Police also are investigating a jewelry theft from earlier in the week.
According to police, a 59-year-old Fairmont Avenue woman came home at 8:15 p.m. Tuesday and was met in the driveway by two men. One of the men struck the woman and grabbed the gold chains hanging around her neck, but the woman fought with the man.
Police reports say the second man helped pull the chains from the woman’s neck. The men ran off after snatching the jewelry.
The woman said the thieves ran off with about 20 gold chains, some with diamond pendants.
A witness watched the two men get into a small, green Pontiac parked at Fairgreen Avenue and Griffith Street on the North Side. Police made no arrest, but the woman said she believes one of the thieves to be her 13-year-old grandson.