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Neighbors aid in catching intruders
YOUNGSTOWN
The criminal career of three teenage girls may have been cut short by the awareness of neighbors in one South Side neighborhood.
Shar-Lynn Hopkins, 15, and Anasha West, 15, both of Youngstown, and Symonne Snyder, 17, of Liberty, face charges related to a home invasion Tuesday afternoon.
An 85-year-old Ivanhoe Avenue woman responded to a knock on her front door to find a teenage girl asking for money to “fix her hair.”
The woman tried to tell the girl she did not have any money to give, but she was startled to find there were two other teen girls already inside her home.
The woman told police the two teen intruders ran out of her front door. The girl who knocked on the door ran also. One of the girls carried a plastic bag filled with items taken from the woman’s home, according to police.
A man and woman who live across the street from the elderly woman happened to be outside as the girls ran away.
The couple noticed something was not right with the teens running out of the house, and they decided to intervene.
The couple tackled two of the girls, one of whom was carrying the bag of goods, knocking the bag from the girl’s hands.
They could not hold the girls, however, but they did get the bag and gave a description of the three to police.
The man also chased the trio to a home in the 1100 block of Inverness Avenue.
Police responded to calls for help at the Ivanhoe home and later spoke with the homeowner on Inverness.
The homeowner said she has no daughters but directed officers to a home in the 1100 block of Detroit Avenue, where she said multiple teens like to hang out.
Police, while speaking with the homeowner, also received tips the suspects were walking near a Detroit Avenue home.
Police went to the Detroit Avenue home and arrested the three girls, who are each charged with aggravated burglary.
Police searched the bag left behind in the scuffle on Ivanhoe and found a variety of jewelry, prescription pills and keys.
The elderly woman said all her possession were recovered minus a few pieces of jewelry and a $10 bill that was on her dresser.
Police later recovered more items believed to have been stolen by the girls when one of the girls’ mother turned in a briefcase containing jewelry.
The mother told police she believes the items were taken by the girls.