Friday, January 21, 2011
YOUNGSTOWN
A city man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for his part in a home invasion and robbery where a woman was raped and several others terrorized.
James D. Williams, 20, who listed addresses on Randolph Street and Broadview Avenue, had been included in a January 2009 indictment listing charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, kidnapping, rape, illegal possession of a weapon, receiving stolen property and illegal possession of a dangerous ordnance.
He later pleaded guilty, under a plea agreement with prosecutors, to one count each of aggravated robbery and kidnapping.
The prosecution recommended a five-year prison term for Williams, but Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced the man Thursday to seven years in prison on each charge to run concurrently.
According to police, Williams was one of several people who burst into an East Side home and stole items.
The homeowner told police he was watching TV with his girlfriend and a male friend when three intruders entered through an unlocked door. The homeowner said two of the intruders were armed and ordered the home’s occupants to the floor, demanding money.
The woman was taken to the basement and raped. Lexter Williams, 29, of Kendis Circle, was charged with the rape. Lexter Williams, no relation to James Williams, ran away from house arrest last year and has not been apprehended.
James Williams told the court he accepted responsibility for his role in the crime. He said he did not intend to hurt anyone and only went to the home to buy drugs.
“Each day I am going to spend [in prison] I am going to better myself. We all make mistakes, and I made one,” he said.
Atty. Dave Betras, representing Williams, told the court his client led a relatively crime-free life before the home invasion and another incident in Trumbull County for which he is serving a six-year prison sentence.
The seven-year sentence Williams has been ordered to serve for the Mahoning County home invasion will run concurrently with the six years he is serving for a Trumbull County carjacking.
Williams and three other men were indicted on charges related to a carjacking on Millennium Boulevard near the Bazetta Township Walmart on June 15. Police say the four men robbed two men around 8:30 p.m. Police arrested Williams about 30 minutes later about a mile west of the Walmart.
Williams ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of complicity to aggravated robbery in that case and was sentenced to six years in prison.