Man pleads guilty to two robberies

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

One of two men charged in a pair of robberies during the 2017 holiday season pleaded guilty Friday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Sentencing will be at a later date for Robert Sellars, 35, of Stewart Avenue, who entered guilty pleas to two counts of aggravated robbery before Judge Anthony D’Apolito.

Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of nine years.

Sellars pleaded guilty to robbing a Subway restaurant Dec. 28, 2017, on East Midlothian Boulevard, and a Family Dollar store on Market Street on Jan. 1, 2018. The same day he robbed the Subway, police said he committed another robbery in Girard.

A co-defendant in both robberies, Anthony Johnson, 32, of Marmion Avenue, has a status hearing in court Monday.

Sellars’ pleas head off a trial that also was slated for Monday.

Reports said the two were arrested about 7:25 p.m. Jan. 1 in an SUV Johnson was driving on Parkview Avenue after an officer was watching for it.

The SUV was suspected of being involved in a robbery just 25 minutes before at the Family Dollar on Market Street.

Inside the SUV, reports said police found a .40-caliber handgun, cash and masks and clothing that witnesses said were used in the robbery on Market Street.