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Niles boy, 16, to be tried as adult in killing of elderly neighbor
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Jacob Larosa, 16, of Niles has a “lengthy history of behavior issues extending back to early childhood” and a “history of disregard for any treatment or sanctions that have been offered through the juvenile system,” Trumbull County Juvenile Court Judge Sandra Stabile Harwood said Monday.
He also has attention deficit disorder, mood disorder and “some mental-health issues” dating back to age 8 – but not mental illness, she said during a hearing.
As a result, the charges of aggravated murder, attempted rape, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery he faces in the March 31 beating death of his elderly neighbor are bound over to Trumbull County adult court, she said.
A grand jury now will decide whether Larosa, who was 15 at the time of the slaying, will be indicted. And if he is, the case will proceed the same as any other adult felony prosecution, said Chris Becker, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor.
Conviction of aggravated murder in the death of Marie Belcastro, 94, could result in a sentence of life in prison with no parole, or life in prison with parole eligibility after 20, 25 or 30 years, Becker said.
Larosa will remain locked up in the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center in lieu of $3 million bond, but Judge Stabile Harwood scolded Larosa during the hearing for disobeying the facility’s rules in the nearly eight months he’s been detained there.
She asked Larosa, who had been seated during the first part of the hearing, to “stand up” while she addressed him.
“I want to make something very clear to you,” the judge said. “I don’t like what I have heard in regard to your continuous infractions down at the juvenile detention center.
“And I want to make it clear the statute requires you be held there. But at any time a motion can be held to determine whether you are jeopardizing the safety of our facility or any other juvenile held down there. Do you understand that?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered. It was one of two times he spoke during the hearing, both times to acknowledge he understood.
“At any time the state can file a motion or this court can, on its own motion, hold a hearing whether you’re going to stay here or if you’re going to go across the street to the adult jail,” the judge said.
Members of his family and the Belcastro family were present in the courtroom. One or more Larosa family members wept when it became clear Larosa would be tried as an adult.
In asking for the $3 million bond, Becker noted that Larosa had “walked away” from juvenile facilities in the past and had hatched an escape plan while locked up on his current charges.
Judge Stabile Harwood read through a list of factors she was required to consider. She found that most of them pointed to Larosa’s being tried as an adult, such as the amount of harm that came to his victim, the fact that his crime was facilitated by his relationship with her and her vulnerable condition.
Larosa had done jobs around the house for Belcastro, who lived on Cherry Street. She weighed only about 80 pounds and stood about 4 feet 8 inches, Judge Stabile-Harwood said. Larosa lived a few houses away on Lafayette Avenue.
Summing up all of the factors, the weight of evidence for transferring him to the adult system “greatly outweigh factors against” it, the judge said.
Larosa had just been released from the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center a few hours before the killing, she noted. He was locked up then for violating probation.
“He has a substantial problem of chronic lying, manipulativeness,” the judge said, noting that Larosa tried to fake a mental illness in this case in hopes of “manipulating the outcome of the hearing.” A closed hearing took place over four days last week to hear testimony about Larosa.
“His behavior has gotten progressively worse over the years, and the manner in which it escalated is of great concern,” the judge said.
The safety of the community would be jeopardized if Larosa were to remain in the juvenile system, she said, noting “the conditions under which his own family lived and that fear spreading to neighbors and the community.”