Teen suspect in beating death has long history of crime

NILES

Jacob O. Larosa, 15, has more than just a reputation for stealing and causing trouble.

He’s also named in a stack of police reports as the perpetrator of thefts, break-ins, domestic violence, property damage and runaways.

Larosa, of Lafayette Avenue near state Route 46, is in the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center, charged with the Tuesday killing of his neighbor, Marie Belcastro, 94, of Cherry Street.

Niles police released 19 police reports Thursday that name Larosa as either the perpetrator of a crime, suspect or victim. Only one is from 2015 — a Feb. 9 report saying he had run away but had been found about seven hours later.

But the 18 other reports were all written over the course of one year — from Sept. 4, 2013, to Aug. 26, 2014.

They confirm the comments of neighbors, who said he was well-known in the neighborhood for stealing and causing trouble. His next-door neighbor, Charles Winwood, said Larosa caused so much trouble he had video cameras installed on his property shortly after he moved in three years ago.

He said the cameras caught Larosa breaking in twice, stealing cash and sleeping under his front porch.

According to police reports, Larosa annoyed a lot of people, including his own family.

A 60-year-old resident of the 400 block of Cherry Street, one block away from Belcastro’s house, reported that Larosa threw rocks at him and passing cars last July 21. An officer spoke to his parents.

“Mother always justifies her son’s actions instead of making him take responsibility,” the officer noted in the report.

Read more of his background in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.