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Prison, jail for remaining adult defendants in Poland Burger King robbery
By Justin Wier
YOUNGSTOWN
The two remaining adults involved in the April robbery of the Poland Burger King received sentences in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Jonathon Daviduk, 20, of Youngstown, received a four-year prison sentence on charges of robbery and attempted kidnapping, and Angelle Schneider, 20, of Youngstown received six months in the county jail on a charge of obstructing justice.
Daviduk attempted to withdraw his guilty plea Monday and denied participation in the robbery.
“I don’t want to waste time in my life for something I didn’t do,” Daviduk told Judge R. Scott Krichbaum. “I just want to go home to my kid and my girlfriend.”
Security footage showed three males coming through the drive-thru window of the Burger King shortly after midnight on April 3, prosecutors said. They brandished what appeared to be guns and ordered employees to the floor.
Two employees, including Schneider, were tied up in the restaurant’s cooler. Schneider had left the drive-thru window open, however.
Other participants identified Daviduk, and prosecutors said physical evidence corroborated their claims.
After a lengthy reading of appellate-court rulings, Judge Krichbaum overruled the motion to withdraw. He emphasized Daviduk made the plea knowingly and willingly, adding people need to bear responsibility for their decisions.
Daviduk’s defense attorney Mark Lavelle said the judge did his client a favor by overruling the motion to withdraw the plea, given the generosity of the prosecution’s offer.
Prosecutors recommended a two-year prison sentence. Judge Krichbaum didn’t agree with that recommendation, however.
“This is bad stuff,” he said. “I gave your thug of a co-defendant four years, so that’s what I’m going to give you.”
Schneider’s six months in jail are a condition of five years’ probation.
She helped identify the other participants, said prosecutors, who dropped more serious charges against her.
Her boyfriend at the time, Dominic DePaul, participated in the robbery.
She apologized for her actions, saying it was a mistake and – like her co-defendants – she was on drugs at the time.
“This is not, ‘Hey, I made a mistake. I won’t do it again,’” Judge Krichbaum said. “This is for real.”
The judge said he couldn’t let Schneider walk away without punishment.
DePaul, 19, of Lake Milton, received a four-year sentence earlier this month, and Jeremy Britton, 17, faces charges in juvenile court for his role in the robbery and for escaping the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center in April.