Suspects in North Side robberies in custody

August 28, 2015 at 12:02a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

One of two men taken into custody as suspects in a string of recent robberies on the North Side also may be a suspect in a similar robbery Thursday morning,

Jarel Gadson, 20, of Alameda Avenue is in the Mahoning County jail on three counts of aggravated robbery, while Deandre Smith, 21, of Chatman Lane, is facing one count of aggravated robbery but more could be added, said Detective Sgt. Michael Lambert, who specializes in robbery investigations.

Jail records show Gadson was arrested by U.S. marshals Thursday morning, and Smith was taken into custody on a probation violation from municipal court Monday and issued a warrant for aggravated robbery at the jail Wednesday. Both are expected to be arraigned today in municipal court.

Municipal court records show Gadson faces two counts of aggravated robbery related to an Aug. 21 incident and another for Aug. 22. Smith so far is just facing a charge for the Aug. 22 robbery, according to court records.

Detective Sgt. Michael Lambert said he also was waiting to see if Gadson was involved in a robbery just before 3 a.m. Thursday in the 200 block of Park Avenue, where two men told police someone with a gun took one of their phones and $2 in cash. He said he was to interview the two victims Thursday afternoon and see if they could pick Gadson out of a photo lineup

Lambert said the two were taking advantage of both opportunity and the fact that there are more people around in later hours in neighborhoods surrounding the campus of Youngstown State University. But Lambert also said the two didn’t care who they robbed as long as they found a victim.

“They really didn’t care,” Lambert said.

He said the pair are wanted in connection with four robberies in the last two weeks totaling seven victims.

Both have pending charges. Gadson has a pending felony charge of trafficking in marijuana that was bound over to a Mahoning County grand jury from a traffic stop earlier this month on the West Side, where an officer found a large amount of suspected marijuana in Gadson’s car and more than $500 cash, even though Gadson told police he did not work. He also has several misdemeanor drug charges resulting from traffic stops on the North Side, according to court records.

The probation violation Smith faces is for failure to pay fines and costs in an earlier court case. He also was taken into custody on a failure-to-appear warrant for not showing up for a trial earlier this year on a minor misdemeanor charge of possession of drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.

In October 2014, Smith was arrested at a home in the 200 block of Jefferson Avenue on the North Side by members of the vice squad serving a search warrant. He also had more than $500 cash on him there and a small amount of marijuana.

Lambert said Gadson’s brother, Niquel, has been wanted on an aggravated robbery warrant for two years. He said Niquel Gadson is wanted for robbing several pharmacies and stores across the city. He said Niquel Gadson was arrested as a juvenile in a similar string of robberies.

“As soon as he became an adult, he started doing it again,” Lambert said.