Youngstown man pleads guilty to aggravated robbery today

YOUNGSTOWN — Prosecutors are recommending 15 years in prison for a 19-year-old who pleaded guilty today to aggravated robbery and felonious assault charges in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Judge John M. Durkin will sentence Evon Cruz of Youngstown after a pre-sentence report in his case is completed. Cruz’s pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated robbery, failure to comply, felonious assault on a police officer and felonious assault and the accompanying firearm specifications. He was to go on trial on those charges Monday.

Cruz is charged with robbing a man, shooting another man in a separate incident then leading police on a chase and firing a shot at an officer on the South Side. All the crimes took place in March 2015. The officer was not hurt.

Cruz was charged as a juvenile but the cases were later bound over to common pleas court.