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Teen fugitive found, faces more charges
YOUNGSTOWN
The 16-year-old boy who escaped from the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center is back in custody and facing additional charges.
Members of the U.S. Marshals office arrested Don-tay Johnson at an apartment in the Victory Housing Complex about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. He was immediately transported back to the Trumbull County juvenile lockup.
Johnson escaped from the Juvenile Justice Center on Main Avenue Southwest on Aug. 14 and managed to elude police for more than 10 days. His run from law enforcement came to an end Wednesday morning.
Members of the U.S. Marshals office received word that Johnson might be at an apartment on Magnolia Avenue and converged on that area. He was found at an apartment in the 600 block of Magnolia attempting to hide in an attic.
Johnson surrendered with no resistance after police threatened to send in a canine to flush him out.
Stanley Elkins, Trumbull County juvenile-prosecutor, said juvenile charges of escape and assault on a police officer have been filed against Johnson. He could face a minimum of 18 months or incarceration until the age of 21 on those charges.
Johnson, prior to his escape, was being held in the juvenile center on two counts of robbery with a gun, both carrying gun specifications. He could be sentenced to four years on each of those charges or held until he is 21.
The escape took place when two male juvenile offenders “jimmied” the locks on their cells, enabling them to get into the adjacent hallway, where an attendant counselor, or guard, spotted them and yelled for them to get back in their cells.
Instead, they walked through a propped-open door, then through a door to the control room, which was left ajar, to get into the control room.
One of the two, Johnson, then made it the rest of the way out of the building. Johnson also fought with a female guard in the control room before fleeing the juvenile lockup.
The video-surveillance equipment in the facility was not working at the time of the escape. Wiring work was done just last week on installation of a new surveillance system — part of a video upgrade being done in the juvenile and common pleas courts — and no monitoring equipment was operable at the time of the escape.