Tuesday, August 18, 2015
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man who pleaded guilty earlier this year to belonging to a West Side street gang and awaiting sentencing was arrested over the weekend in a car with a stolen license plate, a large quantity of ammunition and more than $1,100 cash.
Kyree Grabe, 20, of Trusitt Avenue, is in the Mahoning County jail after he was arraigned by Magistrate Anthony Sertick on Monday on charges of receiving stolen property, possession of drugs and driving under suspension. His bond was set at $7,500.
Reports said Grabe was driving a car that was part of an investigation by Mill Creek MetroParks police and was stopped by city police about 3:30 a.m. Monday.
Officers smelled a strong odor of marijuana, and Grabe and a female passenger were taken out of the car, reports said. Reports said Grabe had $1,161 cash on him and police found 43 bullets in a grocery bag in the back of the car.
The car had a license plate that was reported stolen from Boardman recently, reports said.
In court, Grabe asked Magistrate Sertick for a court-appointed lawyer, saying he had no job, no property and no assetts. Sertick asked Grabe how he had so much cash on him if he didn’t have a job.
Grabe said he recently won an insurance claim in an accident investigation. When asked who represented him in that case, Grabe said he could not remember the name of the attorney but he did know the name of the law firm. Sertick denied his request.
“The fact you had that kind of money on your person means you’re going to have to get your own lawyer,” Sertick told him.
In March, Grabe pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to charges of aggravated riot and participating in a criminal gang. He was one of 12 people indicted in May 2014 for belonging to the E Block Street gang, which had its base of operations on lower Mahoning Avenue in the area of Evanston and Portland avenues. He has yet to be sentenced.
Grabe also was a key prosecution witness in the case against Matthew Cochrane, 26, who was charged with an April 2014 murder on South Avenue. Cochrane eventually was found not guilty by a jury, but arrested a week later with a loaded gun in his car. That case is pending.