43
Facebook didn’t work this time, but Howland police still catch kidnapping suspect
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Sometimes the old methods still work best.
The Howland Police Department this month sought the public’s help in identifying a man captured on surveillance video Dec. 30, robbing Life Storage, 3942 Youngstown Road, and trying to kidnap an employee while threatening her with scissors and stealing her car.
On Jan. 8, police posted the suspect’s picture on the department’s Facebook page, but even after 30,000 views, they did not get a tip on the man’s identity, even though he is a longtime area resident with numerous criminal convictions.
So on Jan. 19, Howland detective Jeff Edmundson went old-school, posting a flier inside North Road Laundry at the corner of North Road and U.S. Route 422.
That is where the stolen car was found abandoned behind the building, still running. Surveillance video showed the suspect went inside the laundromat and got a ride from another man. A witness saw the man in the laundromat but couldn’t identify him.
Luckily, Warren police officer Robert Trimble saw the flier while working security at the laundromat and its plaza and told Howland police the suspect was Darryl V. Jackson, 57, of Beck Street Southeast.
Trimble informed Howland police, who arrested Jackson on a warrant Tuesday. The victim confirmed Jackson was the man.
Facebook has worked a lot of times in the past, “but not this time,” Edmondson said.
Jackson was arraigned this week on aggravated robbery and kidnapping charges. A not-guilty plea was entered, and he remains in the Trumbull County jail in lieu of $150,000 bond.
A police report says Jackson walked into the storage company at 3942 Youngstown Road near Hilda Avenue at 10 a.m. Dec. 30 and asked to pay the bill for a West Middlesex, Pa., woman, then complained about the cost.
Then he pulled out a pair of scissors and threatened to stab the employee if she didn’t give Jackson the money from the cash register. He demanded her car keys and forced her out the back of the store and into the rear parking area.
He demanded she get in the passenger side of her car, which she did, but when Jackson went to the driver’s side, she ran to a nearby business and called 911. Jackson chased the woman for about 10 feet but gave up, then fled in her 2017 Toyota RAV4, Edmundson said.
She was “pretty shaken up” by the experience, Edmundson said.
If convicted, Jackson could get about 20 years in prison.
He returns to Warren Municipal Court for a second hearing Monday.