No bond set for man accused in robbery

Staff report

BOARDMAN

A judge set no bond Tuesday for a 19-year-old Youngstown man accused of robbing a pregnant dollar-store employee at gunpoint.

Eddie Lee Crook Jr. faces charges of aggravated robbery and kidnapping.

He did not enter a plea at his Tuesday arraignment and will be back in court Jan. 31, according to court records. Crook was arrested Monday by Boardman police.

Police were called to Family Dollar, 4026 South Ave. about 10 a.m. Saturday. A female employee there told police a man entered the store brandishing a pistol and pointing it at her before demanding she open the safe, police said.

The man grabbed her arm, moved her to the safe and hid behind merchandise while she opened the safe, reports state. As she opened the safe, the store manager walked into the store and the suspect grabbed the money and ran, police said.

The manager said she saw the man fleeing and another witness in the parking lot saw the man run out of store and get into a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am, according to reports.

Later on Saturday, detectives located the car’s owner, who said her 17-year-old daughter had the car, police said.

The 17-year-old, who lives in Youngstown and is enrolled at Cardinal Mooney High School, was charged with complicity to aggravated robbery and obstructing justice, both felonies, and taken to the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center, records show.

Detectives are continuing to investigate two other dollar-store robberies, both at the Family Dollar, 4030 Market St. that occurred in January and December.