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Pair gets hefty bonds on gun charges
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Two men arrested on weapons charges Monday evening each received hefty bonds after they were arraigned in municipal court Wednesday.
Raymond Johnson, 23, of Willis Avenue was given a $75,000 bond by Magistrate Anthony Sertick on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and grand theft of a firearm, and Jerome Turner, 29, of Lanterman Avenue was given a $150,000 bond on two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, theft of a motor vehicle, carrying a concealed weapon and various traffic charges.
Both were arraigned via video from the Mahoning County jail, where they were taken after their arrests about 6:50 p.m. in the 300 block of East Ravenwood Avenue on the South Side.
When police arrived Monday evening, they spotted the SUV Turner was driving that not only had been reported stolen, but also had been reported to have been involved in at least two incidents involving someone firing a gun on the South Side.
Assistant Prosecutor Shelli Freeze told Sertick both men recently were released from prison. Turner was released from prison last June after serving a four-year sentence for complicity to commit aggravated robbery out of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. He and three others were accused of stealing a car from two men in the parking lot of the Walmart in Bazetta in June 2010.
Turner is accused of stealing an SUV from a Chicago Avenue man May 7 while they were at a McGuffey Road home and then firing at the SUV owner May 17 on Chicago.
He also is accused of pulling a gun and threatening a hairdresser May 9 after he was waiting at her beauty shop and got impatient over a long wait. He was taken into custody Monday on an unrelated warrant for theft and also for driving with a suspended license.
Johnson was a passenger in the SUV when police responded to East Ravenwood on Monday. He was searched after he walked away and reached into a nearby car. Officers found a loaded .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun on him. He also is accused of stealing a gun from a Regent Street home Jan. 22, according to court records.
Court records show Johnson pleaded guilty to charges of burglary and carrying a concealed weapon in 2012 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and was given probation. He violated his probation, however, and was given a four-year prison sentence. He recently was released from prison, Freeze said.
Chief Robin Lees said the arrests are the result of the South Side beat officers being able to discern right away – even on a routine call – that there may be other issues they need to resolve.
“We depend on the officers to have that keen eye on what might be an otherwise routine matter,” Lees said. “And here it resulted in two significant arrests.”