Man charged in series of vehicle break-ins
Staff report
BOARDMAN
Police arrested a Youngstown man Friday for a series of motor-vehicle break-ins.
Jesse L. Cooper, 37, of Ravenwood Avenue, is charged with three felony counts of theft from a motor vehicle and four of criminal damaging.
Cooper is accused in a string of thefts from motor vehicles occurring north of Indianola Avenue between Market Street and Southern Boulevard around Feb. 14, and also occurring last summer.
He is now in the Mahoning County jail.
Cooper recently was sentenced to community control after pleading guilty to a burglary charge, according to court records. He was arrested for breaking into homes in the northern part of Boardman Township known collectively as The Glen in July 2010. He served six months’ jail time.
In June 2000, then-Judge Robert Lisotto of Mahoning Common Pleas Court sentenced Cooper, then 26, to 10 years in prison for attempted rape and attempted kidnapping. Cooper pleaded guilty in April 2010, and as part of a plea agreement, the charges were reduced from rape, kidnapping and receiving stolen property, according to Vindicator files.
Police said the woman was walking her dog around 6 a.m. on Devonshire Drive when Cooper demanded money from her and then put her in his car and drove to Kenmore Avenue in Youngstown, where he dragged her to a wooded area and raped her. Her screams alerted a passerby who called police. Cooper fled but was caught a short time later, records state.