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City prosecutor says defendant is a one man crime wave
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
If one is to believe city Prosecutor Dana Lantz, Gregory Richardson’s picture would be labeled “one-man crime wave.”
As the 30-year-old Richardson was arraigned in municipal court Friday before Judge Elizabeth Kobly on a charge of aggravated robbery, Lantz ticked off a list of other crimes Richardson is suspected of being involved in, just in August alone:
Aug. 3, he is a suspect in the robbery of a restaurant at Market Street and Southern Boulevard in which someone jumped up on the counter and threatened employees.
Aug. 9, he is accused of firing shots at a home on South Hazelwood Avenue across the street from Chaney High School, then getting away by driving through an OVI checkpoint, waving a gun at a woman who was in a car in front of him, then shooting at a house on Sherwood Avenue later that evening.
Aug. 20, police say he robbed a woman at a Mahoning Avenue bar and stole her car. Reports said he demanded a purse from the woman, who thought he was kidding, then knocked her to the ground, put a gun to her head and took the purse and her car. That was the charge he was arraigned on in court.
Last Saturday, he is accused of robbing a man on Hunter Street, causing the man to have a heart attack. Lantz said if the man had not received medical attention from someone there, “we may be looking at a murder charge.”
Tuesday, he is accused of leading police on three separate chases in the car he was accused of taking Aug. 20, before fleeing on foot. He was arrested Friday by police.
Richardson said he has no job and asked for a court-appointed lawyer. When Judge Kobly asked him how he survives, he said a family member helps him. But Lantz disagreed.
“He also survives by stealing and robbing,” Lantz said.
Lantz said the other charges are being investigated and may be presented to a grand jury soon. She asked Judge Kobly for a high bond, citing Richardson’s record, just in the last month alone.
“Obviously, he’s a significant threat and but for luck, we’d be looking at a lot more serious incidents,” Lantz said.
Court records show cases for Richardson dating back to 2003 in both Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and municipal court, including an 18-month prison sentence in 2009 after he was caught trying to smuggle marijuana into Community Corrections Association on Market Street.
Judge Kobly set his bond at $150,000.
Also arraigned on five counts of aggravated robbery was Jared Gadson, 20, of Alameda Avenue, who was taken into custody Thursday at an apartment in the 2600 block of Tyrell Avenue. He is accused of several robberies in the last two weeks on the North Side around the Youngstown State University campus as well as a robbery Aug. 21.
In the Aug. 21 incident, a man said he put a pair of shoes for sale on Facebook and found a buyer at a Tyrell Avenue apartment complex. Lantz said Gadson robbed the man at gunpoint of the shoes.
She said a search warrant was served at his home Monday and several items that were stolen were found there. Yet even after he knew police were watching him, he still was committing robberies, Lantz said.
Lantz said Gadson’s brother, Niquel, has been wanted on an aggravated robbery warrant for two years, and authorities believe he is in Texas. Earlier this month, police said they stopped Gadson and found a large amount of suspected marijuana, some of it in a package from Texas.
Also arraigned in the Aug. 21 robbery was Deandre Smith, 21, of Chatman Lane. Judge Kobly set his bond at $150,000.
Judge Kobly set Gadson’s bond at $625,000.