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Liberty police investigate robbery, burglaries
By robert Guttersohn
Liberty
Township police are looking into a robbery and four burglaries, all occurring within a four-day span between Wednesday and Saturday.
Two of the burglaries occurred in the southern portion of the township, near the Youngstown border. The other two occurred along the 800 block of Church Hill Road and near the intersection of Belmont Avenue.
Liberty police already have arrested a suspect in the robbery.
Just before closing time Friday, a man entered the Dollar General at 2740 Belmont Ave., walked around nervously and then handed a cashier a note.
“Show me the money,” the note read. “You don’t want me to get nervous.”
The cashier gave the man $100 and watched him flee southeast across the Union Square Shopping Center parking lot.
Liberty police officers responded and later found Irvin Brandon, 28, of Lora Avenue in Youngstown, hiding in bushes of a nearby home. Brandon confessed to the crime, the police report said. He was arraigned Monday in Girard Municipal Court on a felony count of robbery and misdemeanors of possessing dangerous drugs and obstructing official business. His bond was set at $25,000 and he is in Trumbull County jail.
In the Church Hill Road incident, the victims, two 23-year-old males and a 17-year-old female, told police three armed men kicked in the back door to the home they were in. One male victim was forced to the ground and asked “where’s the bud and money,” and had a gun fired next to his head after he said that he didn’t know.
The second male victim was hit with one of the guns, escaped to the second-floor bedroom and climbed to the roof. From there, he called police.
When police arrived, the assailants already had fled, taking only a cellphone.
The first burglary Wednesday took place on Holly Drive near the intersection of Liberty Street and Belmont Avenue. There, a burglar got away with two men’s gold necklaces, a gold ring and $2,000, according to a police report.
There were two more burglaries, one each Friday and Saturday, along Trumbull Court.