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2 men sentenced for robbing elderly woman
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
Two 21-year-old men are going to prison for a long time for the armed robbery of an 83-year-old woman just after she left a cash-advance establishment.
On Friday, Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed 11 years on Damon L. Williams, of East Earle Avenue, and 10 years on Johnathan Tellington of Crescent Street, Struthers. They’ll be on probation for five years after prison.
Both men pleaded guilty as charged to aggravated robbery with a firearm specification, and the available sentencing range was six to 13 years in prison. Both apologized for their crimes at their sentencing hearing.
After robbing the East Midlothian Boulevard woman of her purse containing $200 outside Ace Cash Advance on Youngstown-Poland Road last Oct. 16, the pair fled into Struthers, said Rebecca L. Doherty, an assistant county prosecutor.
With the assistance of Struthers police, Youngstown police arrested Williams and Tellington on Oct. 28 after the victim identified them as the robbers.
Williams pointed a handgun in the victim’s face, Doherty said. Police never recovered the gun.
Doherty asked the judge to impose 13 years in prison on Williams and Tellington. “This was truly senseless. These two defendants could have taken her purse without putting a gun in her face,” Doherty said.
“I thank God every day that I survived this horrible crime and the attackers were caught,” the victim, who appeared in court in a wheelchair, told the judge.
Since the attack, the victim said she has suffered “nightmares, sleeplessness, anxiety, chest pains and panic attacks, for which I’ve been in and out of the hospital.”
“We need to keep these types of individuals off the streets, away from the elderly and defenseless people,” she said.
The victim added that her family was devastated when her grandson was robbed and fatally shot in Youngstown.
Both defendants pleaded guilty on the fourth day of their jury trial in June. Williams’ lawyer, Gary Van Brocklin, said the guilty pleas were entered after a defense witness declined to testify and didn’t show up at the court.
A witness said she saw two men walking back and forth on the Struthers side of Youngstown- Poland Road across from the cash-advance store for about three hours before she saw them rob the elderly woman.