Two males charged in Sunday restaurant robbery, one charged after Monday burglary
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Police say they will investigate whether there are any connections between two men charged with a Sunday evening armed robbery at the Subway restaurant on Parkman Road and several other recent restaurant robberies.
Police charged Omar S. Williams, 19, of Columbus and Derrick Bennett, 20, of Third Street Southwest with aggravated robbery in the 5:47 p.m. incident. Williams also is charged with breaking and entering.
Bond was set at $250,000 for each during arraignments Monday in Warren Municipal Court. Innocent pleas were entered for both of them. If convicted, each faces up to 10 years in prison.
When officers arrived at the restaurant at 1604 Parkman Road, another officer, Patrolman Zachary Jones, reported seeing three males matching the description given by Subway workers at Bingham Avenue and Riverview Drive.
Officers found a basement window broken out at 1198 Bingham and went inside the house, finding Williams in a closet and arresting him.
A Warren police report doesn’t say how Bennett was arrested, but he was holding a gun during the robbery, it said. The third suspect was not arrested.
Two Subway workers told police three men entered the restaurant, and Williams demanded money. Bennett pointed a gun at one of the workers while she opened the register, she said.
The third man held open a backpack and told the worker to put the money into it.
Police followed footprints leading from the store to backyards on Niblock Avenue Northwest and then found the backpack containing money from the robbery. They also found a lockbox from the restaurant.
Police also investigated an armed robbery Friday night Little Caesar’s Pizza, 2525 Youngstown Road.
Two black males wearing masks and carrying handguns robbed the restaurant at 10:15 p.m. and fled on foot, police said. They were not captured.
Little Caesar’s also was robbed Nov. 7, and the nearby Carmen’s Pizza, 1861 Youngstown Road, was robbed twice early this month.
Other recent robberies in Warren were Caesar’s Restaurant on West Market Street on Nov. 8, in the parking lot of ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital, on Homewood Avenue Southeast, a home on Vernon Street Northwest, a railroad track behind 1703 W. Market St., a location in the Stonegate apartments on Robert Avenue Northwest and a home in the 2000 block of Youngstown Road Southeast.
Police also charged Jon Tay Johnson, 19, of Randolph Street Northwes, with burglary Monday morning after responding to a house in the 300 block of Comstock Street NW for a report of suspicious activity. They found an open door at the house.
A police report says two book bags, $30 in cash and credit cards were missing from the home. The report doesn’t indicate why they arrested Johnson, and the department’s spokesman says the matter still is under investigation.