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Man gets four years in Poland Burger King robbery
By Justin Wier
YOUNGSTOWN
A Lake Milton man will serve four years in prison for his role in the robbery of the Poland Burger King earlier this year.
While prosecutors recommended a two-year sentence for Dominic DePaul, 19, because he cooperated with detectives, Judge R. Scott Krichbaum decided that was not enough.
“I’m genuinely offended by what this man did,” Judge Krichbaum said. “This is as bad a crime as there is.”
In April, DePaul and two others came through the drive-thru window of the Burger King on U.S. Route 224 shortly after midnight, brandishing what appeared to be weapons. DePaul’s girlfriend worked at the restaurant and left the drive-thru window open, prosecutors said.
The three ordered the employees to the floor and tied up DePaul’s girlfriend and another employee in the cooler.
DePaul’s attorney said his client used heroin at the time.
“I have to think about sitting there as the victim with these strung-out, wired people who come busting into my place of business, where I am probably making minimum wage and shove a gun in my face,” Judge Krichbaum said.
The guns were fake, prosecutors said, but Judge Krichbaum argued the victim’s fear was real.
DePaul had pleaded guilty in August to one count each of robbery and attempted kidnapping.
In addition to four years in prison, DePaul will pay the cost of prosecution and serve three years’ parole upon release.
While his attorney said a robbery charge he picked up in Campbell while out on bond will be dismissed, if he is convicted and sentenced, that sentence will run consecutively.
DePaul’s girlfriend Angelle Schneider, 20, and Johnathon Daviduk, 20, both of Youngstown, have pleaded guilty and have sentencings scheduled for Oct. 30.
The fourth suspect, Jeremy Britton, 17, faces charges in juvenile court for his role in the robbery as well as for escaping from the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center in April.