The third adult member of the Niles gang called Savage Inc., has been sentenced to prison.
Staff report
WARREN
The third adult member of the Niles gang called Savage Inc. has been sentenced to prison.
Douglas E. McGuire, 19, of Washington Avenue in Niles, received a three-year term after pleading guilty this week in Trumbull County Comon Pleas Court to felonious assault, attempted kidnapping, participating in a criminal gang and a specification that he used a gun.
Several juvenile members also were indicted, and their cases were completed earlier in juvenile court, authorities said.
McGuire was among a group of youths that held a 21-year-old Niles woman hostage for three hours Sept. 15, 2012, at a home on North Chestnut Avenue, during which time she was pistol-whipped, stomped on, beaten with a belt and kicked in the groin.
A family member of the woman said the woman was terrified to report the incident because members of the group threatened to kill the woman’s children and family.
Members of the group also assaulted a 50-year-old man who was walking on North Bentley Avenue at 11:22 p.m. Sept. 8, 2012, leaving the man with permanent eye damage.
The group also was responsible for vandalism in the Circle Street area of Niles near Robbins Avenue and state Route 46, and along the Niles Bike Trail for “tagging” buildings and other structures with the Savage name to “mark their territory,” said Chuck Morrow, an assistant county prosecutor.
Jamaz L. Protho, 18, also of Washington Avenue in Niles, was sentenced to four years in prison in March, and Daniel Uncapher, 20, of Youll Street, also Niles, got one year in prison back in January.
Morrow credited the Niles Police Department with effectively investigating the incidents, which fell under a seldom-used gang statute that can add punishment for activities carried out while acting as a gang.
The group was involved in drug activity, assaults, robbery, attempted kidnapping and vandalism, Morrow said.