Man who took hostages gets 3 years in prison

YOUNGSTOWN — A man who pleaded guilty to holding several people hostage at gunpoint in May in a South Side basement was sentenced to three years in prison today by Judge Shirley Christian in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Gregory Wilkerson, 40, had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of abduction and a count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Reports said he was holding the people at a home in the first block of East Philadelphia Avenue and surrendered to police about 3 a.m. May 1. Police found a 9mm semiautomatic handgun he had with him, reports said.

Wilkerson told the judge he was so drunk he does not remember anything that happened.