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More suspects arrested in fatal Niles burglary
By Ed Runyan
NILES
Niles police arrested two suspects Friday in a deadly home burglary a week ago on state Route 46 just south of U.S. Route 422.
Two others — Scott C. Crislip, 18, of Cedar Street in Niles and Nichole R. Allen, 35, of Morris Street in Mineral Ridge — turned themselves in to police earlier this week and were arraigned in Niles Municipal Court.
Allen is the wife of the man who died in the burglary, Terry D. Allen, 37, also of Morris Street. The Allens have four children, according to Terry Allen’s online obituary. His funeral was Wednesday.
Nichole Allen posted $7,500 bond and was released from the Trumbull County jail Friday. Crislip remains in the Trumbull County jail in lieu of $10,000 bond. He was arraigned Wednesday.
Niles police arrested Michael S. Burns, 33, of Forest Ridge Court in Mineral Ridge, and Mindy C. Sierra, 32, of East Federal Street in Niles Friday. They are likely to remain in the jail over the weekend and be arraigned in Niles Municipal Court on Monday.
All four are charged with burglary, a felony punishable by up to eight years in prison, in connection with the 12:30 a.m. July 12 shooting death of Terry D. Allen.
Police believe the man living at 1539 Niles-Cortland Road (Route 46), who has not been identified, fired a single shot through the front door after seeing people outside his house and hearing their voices.
The man told a 911 operator he fired because he thought people were trying to break into the house. When police arrived, they found Allen dead in front of the front door with a bullet wound to the torso. They also found that the side door had been broken open and there was evidence that someone had started to break open the front door.
Police have not charged the man who fired the shot.
Detective Jim Robbins of the Niles Police Department said he believes the resident fired because a burglary was taking place.
The department will turn over evidence to the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office early next week and leave it up to prosecutors to decide whether the man firing the gun should be charged.
Burns and Sierra also have charges pending in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown after Austintown police arrested them July 2. Employees at Tractor Supply Co. on Mahoning Avenue said they caught the pair trying to steal a grass and weed trimmer.
Burns was charged with theft, and Sierra was charged with complicity to theft after employees said a fence alarm went off, alerting them to the theft. Police said Burns partially broke a fence to shove the tool underneath it so he could place it in his truck. Sierra was the lookout, police said.