43
Neighbors help cops nab burglars
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Neighbors helped police catch six people suspected of breaking into homes over the weekend.
The two incidents occurred in separate neighborhoods.
Arraigned in municipal court Monday on charges of breaking and entering were Stephen Fletcher, 38, of Connecticut Avenue; and James Kohn, 58, and Burton Miller, 34, both of Mahoning Avenue.
The three were caught about 7:40 p.m. Sunday at a home in the 2600 block of Vestal Road on the West Side after a neighbor flagged down officer Nick Menichini while he was on patrol and told him there were three men taking tools and a snowblower out of a garage at a home where a man recently died.
Reports said the woman told police she told two of the men – Kohn and Miller – to stop what they were doing and put the items back, and they did so, reports said. Fletcher was behind the garage when police arrived but an officer went behind the garage and managed to take him into custody.
Fletcher told police he had permission to be at the home, and Kohn and Miller said Fletcher told them he had permission to be there, reports said. But a relative of the homeowner told officers no one had permission to be there. Reports said Fletcher was so drunk he had to be taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center to be examined before he was booked into the Mahoning County jail.
Judge Robert Milich set bonds of $15,000 each for the three men.
Also arraigned Monday on a charge of burglary was Jonathan Jordan, 18, of Crandall Avenue, who was arrested about 2:30 p.m. Friday after reports said neighbors spotted three males trying to get in the window of a house at Randall and Crandall avenues.
Reports said when officers were going to the call, they spotted three males walking at Alameda Avenue and Wirt Street who matched the descriptions, and they stopped and questioned them. Neighbors also were brought to the intersection and identified the three as the people they saw trying to get inside the home, reports said.
Jordan was one of the three and the other two are juveniles, reports said.
Reports said neighbors told police one of the three was trying to get in through the window while the other two acted as lookouts, but they could not get inside.
Judge Milich set Jordan’s bond at $15,000. The two juveniles were taken to the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center.