43
Three charged in July robbery
BOARDMAN
Three people were arraigned in Mahoning County Area Court here Tuesday in connection with a July robbery.
Marcus L. Yager, 24, of Warren, and Sarahann L. Oliver, 20, of Youngstown, are each charged with one count of robbery. Christopher M. Stevens, 23, of Youngstown, is charged with complicity to robbery, a felony offense.
Bond was set at $15,000 for each defendant, and they are scheduled to be back in court today for a preliminary hearing. None of the defendants entered a plea Tuesday. U.S. Marshals and Boardman police arrested all three Friday.
Police said a 22-year-old woman was robbed about 11:20 p.m. July 28. The woman told police when she arrived at her residence, a person approached her from behind, and when she turned to see the individual, a man tried to punch her, causing her to fall backward, reports state.
The man reached for her purse and the two tugged on it before the man tore it out of her hands, police said.
The woman also told officers she noticed a woman in her driveway as the man was fleeing, according to reports. Her purse contained her phone, credit cards and a cash deposit from the pizza shop where she works, police said.
Officers said the woman did not recognize the man or woman.
Boardman Police Chief Jack Nichols said whenever a business is involved in a crime, officers investigate inside the business as well as outside.
“Frequently we find when robberies of businesses occur, there’s some inside information or inside help and that’s always something our investigators look for,” he said.
In this case, the owner of the pizza shop mentioned that Stevens, a delivery driver, called off from work the day of the robbery, but then called back in wanting to work, according to police reports.
Nichols said that information proved vital to the case, leading investigators to Stevens.
Although court records indicate that Stevens and Oliver do not have any prior criminal history, Yager pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and obstruction of justice in 2009, reduced from original charges of complicity to murder in the shooting deaths of Lloyd McCoy Jr., 11, and Marvin Chaney, 26.
Prosecutors said Yager was in a car with Eugene Henderson and Eugene Cumberbatch, both of Warren, when they fired dozens of bullets into a house on Wick Street Southeast, Warren, but Yager didn’t fire a shot.