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Man sentenced to 28 years for home invasion
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Allen Tapscott
YOUNGSTOWN
A tearful courtroom statement from a Youngstown couple about the loss of their unborn child preceded a 28-year prison sentence for 43-year-old Allen Tapscott.
Tapscott, of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, had been on trial last week in the courtroom of Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. He was found guilty of two counts of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and being a convicted felon in illegal possession of a firearm.
Tapscott came onto the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Association property on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on Nov. 2 and into the apartment of Alanda James, who was in a high-risk pregnancy at the time, through an unlocked door and pointed a gun at James and her boyfriend, Anthony Ranalli, demanding cash and valuables.
Ranalli said he is happy to see the man headed to prison.
“He got what he deserved. He should have gotten more time. I lost my son. He pointed a gun at my pregnant girlfriend; that is no type of human being,” he said.
The couple told Tapscott their cash was kept at another apartment. Tapscott allowed the woman to go retrieve the funds, but the woman instead went to another apartment and called police.
James lost the baby she was carrying the day after the home invasion. The couple contends the lost pregnancy was due to the stress involved with the home invasion.
Before Judge Krichbaum imposed the sentence on Tapscott, James approached the court carrying a small blue box. She said the box contained all memories she or Ranalli will ever have of the baby they lost.
She tried to continue reading her prepared statement, but began crying too hard to continue, leaving Rebecca Doherty, an assistant county prosecutor, to finish reading the statement.
Doherty previously said Tapscott was facing a maximum of 38 years in prison. She asked the court to impose the lengthiest sentence possible against the man.
“Allen Tapscott’s actions warrant the maximum sentence you can give him,” she told the court before sentencing.
Tapscott began to address the court by saying there was no evidence against him, but that brought strong words from Judge Krichbaum. The judge said he sat through the trial and listened to testimony from credible witnesses, then heard Tapscott’s “outrageous” response to that testimony.
“There is so much evidence of your guilt in this case that I don’t know that I have seen a better case presented,” the judge said. “You couldn’t be more guilty than you are.”
Judge Krichbaum said he could not consider the lost pregnancy because those issues were not brought out in trial, but called the robbery of a pregnant woman on bed rest “despicable.”
The judge added that Tapscott was not permitted on YMHA property and was trespassing and that Tapscott’s actions before the robbery show that he “cased” the home.
Judge Krichbaum ultimately sentenced Tapscott to a total of 28 years in prison. The judge said he would have handed down a lengthier sentence by ordering some of the gun charges to be served consecutively, but said some of the sentences had to be merged as a matter of law.
Tapscott also will serve five years’ probation upon his release from prison. He will get credit for the 82 days he has spent in the Mahoning County jail.
Tapscott remained defiant to the end, shouting something at his victims as he was led away from the courtroom.