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Woman sentenced for crime spree
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Given the life Alicia Pierce has led, a judge Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court told the 31-year-old woman it’s a miracle she is still alive.
Saying she has one of the largest files he has ever seen while on the bench, Judge Lou D’Apolito told Pierce her almost lifelong dependence on drugs, atrocious family upbringing, five attempts at suicide and the fact she was used by the people she bought drugs from show she has beaten the odds.
Now, the judge says she has to beat the odds again after her four-year, 11-month prison sentence for a three-day crime spree she committed in May is finished. The judge acknowledged those odds are long.
“I hope for your sake and society’s sake you make it, but I wouldn’t bet on it,” a somber Judge D’Apolito said. “It would be a bad bet.”
Pierce, of Kenneth Street, pleaded guilty Oct. 27 to aggravated burglary, three counts of robbery, two counts of burglary, abduction and three counts of receiving stolen property. She is accused of taking part in robberies at stores around the city and breaking into homes.
The sentence was agreed upon by Assistant Prosecutor Shawn Burns and defense attorney J. Gerald Ingram.
One woman whose purse was taken out of her home had a statement read to the court. The woman said the costs of replacing the items taken from her purse, including glasses and changing her locks and canceling credit cards cost her more than $750. Another woman said Pierce burst into her home, grabbed her 2-year-old and ran into an upstairs room before a man with a gun appeared on her porch to try and get Pierce out of the home. No one was injured but the woman said her child is now terrified.
“She wakes up at night screaming and crying,” the woman said.
Pierce, the mother of two children, turned to face the victims who were in court and tearfully apologized.
Ingram said the man with the gun was a drug dealer looking for Pierce, who ran into the home from a nearby drug house because the drug dealers there were threatening to kill her. Ingram said for the three days his client was committing her crimes, she was acting at the behest of the drug dealers, who would drive her different places, give her instructions and then pay her with drugs. He said his client has had an almost constant battle during her adult life with addiction, compounded by the fact that both her parents were drug addicts and an uncle she was sent to live with abused her.
“She was high as a kite for all of the three days,” Ingram said. “In fact, the presentence investigation reveals she has been high as a kite for most of her life.”