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DNA leads to Quiznos-robbery suspect
BOARDMAN
Using DNA evidence, police have charged a 28-year-old man in the robbery of a Quiznos sandwich shop one year ago.
Jeremy Steiner of Meadville, Pa., is accused in the January 2010 robbery of Quiznos on Lockwood Boulevard.
Police said a female employee waited on a man, and when she opened the cash drawer to make change for his purchase, he demanded money. As he fled in his car, the man threw his jacket out of the window.
Initial DNA testing of the jacket at the state’s Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation did not yield any results, said Detective Sgt. Glen Riddle of Boardman police.
However, Steiner was arrested on charges of receiving stolen property and drug possession in Pennsylvania, and when he entered a Frackville, Pa. prison, his DNA was taken.
“Those databases interface, and it spit out the match,” Riddle said.
The Quiznos robbery occurred on the heels of a string of pizza-shop robberies, said Chief Jack Nichols.
Riddle said that Steiner denied robbing any pizza shops but that police will resubmit some of the evidence from those crime scenes.
Steiner will be eligible for release from the Pennsylvania prison sometime in April or May, Riddle said.
“When he’s ready to be released, we’ll go arrest him at the prison and take him to Schuylkill County [Pa.] jail, and then extradite him back here,” Riddle said.
The detective said he’s optimistic DNA evidence will help in another case.
Riddle said it’s likely DNA was left behind by the man who robbed Sbarro pizza in the Southern Park Mall, 7401 Market St., on Saturday night.
Reports state a 57-year-old manager was leaving the mall around 10 p.m. when a man with a ski mask and gun forced him back inside.
The robber told the manager to turn the lights off and use his cell phone to light the way to unlock the safe.
The robber then tied the man to a baker’s rack using wire ties and an apron and left with more than $3,000.