Bank robbery suspect stipulates to parole violation

May 20, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

The suspect in the robbery of a West Side bank last month stipulated Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to an allegation he violated his parole.

Rickie Gonzalez, 51, admitted he was out of the state April 29 without permission from his parole officer. He was arrested at the Mountainer Casino in West Virginia just hours after the PNC Bank on Meridian Road was robbed April 28.

Gonzalez is on parole for guilty pleas of kidnapping, robbery and aggravated burglary in January 2009. He was sentenced to six years in prison by Judge Lou A. D’Apolito plus he received a year in an unrelated case that ran concurrent to his six-year sentence. Judge D’Apolito granted him judicial release in 2014.

The pleas came from a September 2007 home invasion at a home on South Raccoon Road in Canfield Township.

Because of confusion over how many days Gonzalez served and how many days remain on his sentence, he was not sentenced on the violation Thursday. When the time remaining on the original sentence is determined, Judge D’Apolito will issue a judgment entry spelling out how many more days Gonzalez must serve in prison for violation of his parole.

Gonzalez did not stipulate to violating his probation because of the robbery police have accused him of committing.

Police said the two men robbed the bank late in the afternoon April 28 and managed to get away. One of them was armed with a shotgun, and the other vaulted a counter to grab cash, reports said.

Also charged in the PNC Bank robbery is Michael Zarlingo, 55. They were both returned this week, booked into the county jail, and arraigned Wednesday in municipal court on charges of aggravated robbery.

Gonzalez’s attorney, Miriam Ocasio, said her client was doing well when he got out of prison and even had a steady job for a year, but he began using drugs again and things went downhill from there.

Gonzalez also apologized, saying he was embarrassed to be back in trouble.

“I made some real terrible decisions. I’ll have to man up to that,” Gonzalez said. “I want to apologize to everyone I hurt. It was senseless.”