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Cops: Man tries to bribe victim
By joe gorman
youngstown
Police say a West Ravenwood Avenue man and his girlfriend tried to bribe a man the boyfriend was accused of robbing in June.
Allante Donaldson, 22, is accused of offering the manager of a Market Street business the same amount of money he stole.
The man turned down the money, said Detective Sgt. Tom Parry, who investigates robberies and burglaries for the police department.
Donaldson and his girlfriend, 28-year-old Sherry L. Gray of Magnolia Avenue, were each indicted by a Mahoning County grand jury Thursday for the charges of aggravated robbery and bribery.
Parry said Donaldson and another man stole about $500 cash from Blue Ribbon Rentals, 3500 Market St., during an armed robbery June 6. Parry said he managed to develop information that Donaldson may have been a suspect, and he was able to get enough evidence to arrest him a little more than a week after the robbery.
Witnesses were able to pick Donaldson’s picture out of a photo lineup and they also knew him before the robbery, Parry said.
Before he was arrested, Parry said Donaldson sent Gray to the business because he knew police were looking for him. Parry said the woman called Donaldson on a cellphone, then put the phone on speaker so Donaldson could speak to the owner.
Parry said that is where Donaldson offered the owner $500 to not press charges. That is the same amount of money that was taken in the robbery, Parry said.
The owner refused to take the money, Parry said.
Parry said the case is highly unusual because he does not often run across criminals offering money to their victims to keep silent.
“It’s very rare,” Parry said.
Police are still searching for Donaldson’s accomplice, Parry said.
Gray also has yet to be taken into custody.
Vindicator files show that Donaldson was one of three people wounded in a shooting in 2007 with an assault rifle. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to a charge of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and was sentenced to five years’ probation. However, he was caught violating his probation and sentenced to 16 months in prison. Records do not indicate what the probation violation was.
In April, Donaldson was indicted on a charge of receiving stolen property but that charge was dismissed. In July, he was indicted on the charge of possession of heroin.