Young robbers get prison time

YOUNGSTOWN

Two 19-year-olds without prior juvenile or adult criminal records have learned the hard way that gun crime yields substantial prison time, even though nobody was injured in the robbery they committed.

Alex G. Seymore, of Woodbine Avenue, Struthers, got eight years in prison; and his accomplice, Kalen M. Handy, of Lakewood Avenue, got six years in prison Tuesday.

Both men had earlier pleaded guilty to three counts each of aggravated robbery with firearm specifications in a July 14, 2015, robbery of three Poland teens in Yellow Creek Park in Struthers.

The sentences were imposed by Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, to whom both defendants apologized for the crime.

Both defendants’ sentences include a mandatory, three-year gun specification consecutive to their prison time for the robbery itself; and both will be on probation for five years after prison.

“It was supposed to be a joke,” said Seymore’s lawyer, Donna McCollum, based on what her client told police. “Anytime a firearm is involved, it is not a joke,” she added.