Woman arraigned for helping JJC escapee

By Joe Gorman | April 22, 2017 at 12:06a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

City Prosecutor Dana Lantz said she expects more charges to be filed against people who helped a teen escapee from the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center this week.

Miranda Little, 22, of Salt Springs Road, is in the Mahoning County jail on $25,000 bond after her arraignment Friday before Magistrate Anthony Sertick on charges of obstructing official business and possession of criminal tools. Police said she helped Jeremy Britton, 17.

Reports said Britton, who had escaped Wednesday from JJC, where he was being held on an aggravated-robbery charge, was found at Little’s home Thursday by police after they received a tip a car he was seen in was parked there.

Lantz told Sertick that Britton showed up at Little’s house Wednesday evening, and Little helped to dress a wound he suffered when he scaled a 20-foot fence topped with razor wire and another fence also topped with razor wire to get out of the JJC grounds.

Little then used her car to take Britton to a home on Steel Street, then homes on Elm Street and Saranac Avenue to get clothes. A report from the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office said when police and deputies arrived at Little’s home about 10:15 a.m. Thursday, Britton told her not to open the door. Britton was found inside.

Lantz said it is possible more people will be charged when officials learn the identities of the people in the other homes who helped Britton.

Britton escaped early Wednesday while he was in an outside recreation yard. Police said he forced a person out of a car on Adams Street, then led police and deputy sheriffs on a chase in the McGuffey Road area on the East Side at speeds that at one time reached 100 mph.

Reports said Britton abandoned that car after he drove on a railroad bed on Hubbard Road to Logangate Drive in Liberty, then ran into the nearby woods. Police from Youngstown, Hubbard Township and Hubbard as well as deputy sheriffs searched the woods for several hours before turning the search over to U.S. marshals.

JJC officials did not return messages Friday afternoon seeking comment on what new charges have been filed against Britton.

Britton is one of four people charged in the April 3 robbery of a Burger King on U.S. Route 224 in Poland.