Hearing postponed for brothers accused in robbery

Staff report

BOARDMAN

A preliminary hearing for two brothers accused of robbing a real-estate agent at gunpoint on Hillman Way has been postponed until Thursday.

Robert Brooks, 25, and Paul Brooks, 27, both of Youngstown, will appear in Boardman court at 4:45 p.m. Thursday.

Roberts Brooks also is a suspect in the Sept. 20 murder of real-estate agent Vivian Martin.

Attorneys for both brothers said they had received the case assignment late Monday and needed more time to prepare, which Judge Joseph M. Houser of Mahoning County Area Court granted.

Police arrested the brothers Sept. 21 in the robbery of a female real-estate agent while she was showing them an apartment on Hillman Way. When interviewed by police, Robert Brooks admitted being involved in the robbery, reports state.

The men took a tan bag, black camera phone, blue scarf, 12 apartment keys, wicker purse and other items from the real-estate agent who works for ERA Tri-Sun Realty. That victim, Cynthia Lee Curaso- Western, told her story on NBC’s “Inside Edition” on Tuesday evening.

The entertainment news program broadcast a special report about the recent attacks on real-estate agents in Northeast Ohio and also featured the Martin case and that of Andrew VonStein, a Realtor in Portage County who was found shot to death Sept. 21.