Man faces charges in robbery

Staff report

NILES

Bond of $75,000 was set in Niles Municipal Court on Tuesday for Russell A. Beatty, 41, of Hobart Road, Leavittsburg, charged with aggravated robbery of the Circle K store, 419 South Main St., at 2:37 a.m. Tuesday.

Police arrested Beatty about a half-hour after the robbery, hiding under a van at 322 Smith St.

Individuals who were inside the Circle K during the robbery identified Beatty as the person who committed the robbery.

Store employees said the thief was acting nervously before approaching workers and demanded money after saying he had a gun and a knife. The worker didn’t see any weapons.

An employee handed him $11, and the thief fled in a black Chevy Cavalier, which police believe had been stolen during an 8:15 p.m. Monday carjacking in the parking lot of McDonald’s, 428 N. Main St.

In that incident, a worker said he was leaving the restaurant when a white male stuck something feeling like a gun into his side and ordered him out of his vehicle and to leave his phone inside.

Niles Municipal Court records didn’t indicate that Beatty had been charged in the carjacking.

Shortly after the Circle K robbery, a Weathersfield Township police officer reported that he was following a black Cavalier whose driver had parked the car on Sayers Avenue in Niles and then fled on foot.

Because the charge against Beatty is a felony, the court did not ask him to enter a plea.