Wednesday, August 17, 2011
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Investigators say they have information that a 16-year-old boy and an accomplice planned Sunday’s escape from the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center on Main Avenue Southeast.
The 16-year-old, Don-Tay Johnson, who has an address on East Dewey Avenue in Youngstown, walked out of the facility about 11:30 p.m. and was still at large Tuesday night.
A warrant for Johnson’s arrest has been issued, and the center notified law enforcement to be on the lookout for him.
Searches at several Warren locations Monday failed to locate Johnson. His mother lives in Warren, police said.
A report by the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office said Johnson and the other youth got out of their cells.
The corrections officer said she yelled at the two boys to get back in their cells, but they walked toward her instead.
Two doors between the cells and the control room were open — one propped open, the other one ajar, the corrections officer said.
The boys came into the control room, where they struggled with a 40-year-old female corrections officer.
In the struggle, the corrections officer suffered blows to the head and a hand injury. She was later treated at St. Joseph Health Center.
Once inside the control room, the boys unlocked cells throughout the facility. The other juveniles came out of their cells when the doors were unlocked, but none tried to escape.
Johnson left the control room and walked out of the facility.
A second corrections officer, a 64-year-old man, came out of the restroom as the boys were leaving the control room. He was struck in the head by the second youth but did not seek medical treatment.
The second youth was unable to escape because the door Johnson left through locked behind him.
The most recent time Warren police had contact with Johnson prior to him being locked up was April 29, 2011, when police arrested him at the corner of Lener Avenue and Hamilton Street Southwest with another juvenile.
Johnson was found to have an alcoholic beverage in his possession, and the other youth was carrying a gun.
Johnson was among four juveniles arrested Aug. 2, 2010, near the skate park and Packard Park on Mahoning Avenue, after a 16-year-old boy said the four others attacked him and took his cellphone and bicycle.