Two local men sentenced in federal explosives case

CLEVELAND — Two men were sentenced in U.S. District Court Wednesday for conspiring to purchase explosives to crack safes at jewelry stores and coin shops, according to court records.

Judge Donald C. Nugent sentenced Frank Susany, 53, of Boardman, to 21 months in prison and James Quinn, 52, of Youngstown, to eight months’ house arrest as a condition of two years’ probation.

A third man involved in the conspiracy, Robert Courtney, 45, of North Jackson, received a sentence of 10 months in prison in June.

All three had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to receive and transport explosive materials earlier this year.

The trio planned to break into jewelry stores and coin shops to steal valuable items which they could sell and use the proceeds to buy explosives, an indictment said.

The explosives would in turn be used to crack safes at jewelry and stores and coin shops.

Susany met on three different occasions with a source working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation who he recruited to obtain plastic explosives, according to the indictment. Quinn was with him on one of those occasions.

Courtney acted as a lookout while Susany broke into a coin store in Westlake, Ohio in 2013, according to the indictment.