Youngstown man gets 20 years in prison for robbing Niles phone store and kidnapping

Staff report

WARREN

A Youngstown man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court for the Dec. 23 kidnapping and armed robbery of the Boost Mobile store on Youngstown Road in Niles.

Jonathan K. Smith, 37, of Fifth Avenue, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of aggravated robbery, one of kidnapping and single counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle.

Police said he was wearing a stocking cap, dark hooded sweatshirt and gray mask over his face when he went into the store brandishing a gun while ordering a clerk into the back room.

Smith stole the cellphone from the clerk as well as cash and new cellphones from the store, police said.

Using a tracking feature on the cellphone stolen from the employee, police were able to locate Smith in a car in the Howland Plaza parking lot at the corner of East Market Street and state Route 46 and arrest him about an hour later.