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Neighbors catch suspected food bandit
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man suspected of stealing food out of a Hilton Avenue home four times within a week – including sometime Wednesday – was found by a group of residents Wednesday who then held him down until police arrived.
Jacob Merchant, 32, who reports said is homeless, is in the Mahoning County jail on charges of criminal trespass, theft and receiving stolen property as well as a warrant from an earlier case for failure to appear. He is expected to be arraigned in municipal court today.
Reports said officers Mohammad Awad and Travis Sheely were called about 8:40 p.m. to a vacant home in the 200 block of East Judson Avenue, where Merchant was being held down by two men. Concerned citizens in the area were searching for the man they thought was breaking into the home in the 200 block of Hilton Avenue, where food had been taken every time.
In a burglary earlier this week, about $100 worth of groceries was taken, and police found some of the food in a nearby vacant home. In a burglary last week a half-eaten meal was left behind and roll of toilet paper and bottle of wine was taken along with the food.
In the prior burglaries as well as the one Wednesday, police said the burglar was able to get inside by either kicking in the back door or tampering with the lock and door knob on the back door.
About 5:35 p.m. Wednesday, Awad was dispatched to the home for another burglary call. The homeowner had found his back door kicked in when he came home and more food missing. Police followed a trail of food to East Judson Avenue and a vacant home there, but they were not able to find a suspect.
When police returned after Merchant was caught, reports said officers found some of the food taken in the burglary earlier in the day in the garage and that Merchant was trying to use electricity from the vacant home to cook the food.
Police also found 20 unopened CDs and DVDs in a large bag Merchant was carrying.
Efforts to reach the homeowner Thursday were not successful. A pair of neighbors moving a television across the street said they knew of the burglaries, but they did not speak English well and did not have much to say.