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Man gets time served, probation, in weapons case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Robert Blackshear has plans for his probation.
He plans to take care of his 80-year-old mother, stay off drugs and stay away from guns.
He also plans to take the bus to his appointments at Community Corrections Association, where he must report for part of his probation.
Judge Lou D’Apolito told Blackshear on Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court he has plans, too. Those plans involve prison if Blackshear violates any terms of his release.
The 57-year-old Blackshear pleaded guilty Nov. 6 to drug and firearms charges and a sentence of 30 months in prison was recommended, with prosecutors standing silent if Blackshear applied for judicial release after six months in prison.
“I just want to be by mom,” Blackshear said.
“How am I going to make sure you’re not doing drugs?” the judge asked him.
Blackshear said there was no need to worry.
“I’m on probation,” Blackshear said. “I know I’ll go to jail if I use drugs.”
Blackshear has already served 15 months in jail while awaiting the settlement of his case. He stayed in the jail as a potential witness in a criminal case but was not needed, so Martin Desmond, assistant county prosecutor, agreed to amend the original sentencing agreement for Blackshear to be placed on probation.
Blackshear told the judge he wants to take care of his mother who is in a nursing home and move back to her home on the East Side. He said he is free from drugs and does not want to do them anymore.
Judge D’Apolito said he was also concerned about the weapons. Blackshear assured him he will have no guns around. He said his mother doesn’t like them.
“Then why did you have weapons?” the judge asked him.
“It was the way I grew up,” Blackshear replied.
Blackshear was arrested May 20, 2014, while members of the Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force were serving a search warrant in a McGuffey Road home. They were looking for a member of the E Block Gang on the West Side who was known to stay at the home.
Blackshear was inside and told police he did not live there, but sometimes a woman he knows lets him stay there. In plain view, officers found a 12-gauge shotgun and two 9 mm handguns, reports said.
Those officers obtained a warrant and searched the rest of the house and found several other weapons, including an SKS assault rifle and a 37mm grenade launcher. Some grenades for the launcher were found in a plastic bag on the floor.
The Youngstown Police Department Bomb Squad was called in to take possession of the grenades.
Blackshear admitted having the shotgun but said the rest of the weapons did not belong to him. A bag of heroin also was found in the home.