Third suspect in 2017 Niles jewelry store robbery will be arraigned today

Staff report

WARREN

Ronald D. McDonel, 58, of Penn Avenue in Sharpsville, Pa., will be arraigned today after being secretly indicted on three counts of aggravated robbery and three counts of kidnapping in the April 25, 2017, robbery of Direct Jewelry Outlet on state Route 46 in Niles.

His charges in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court contain specifications that he was using a gun at the time of the crimes.

Two other men who were part of the robbery were convicted in late 2017 and are already serving prison sentences. They are Zachary E. Bradford, 36, of Warren and Girard, and Cedis R. Martin, 32, of Warren. Jail records indicate both of them and McDonel are originally from Detroit.

Bradford was sentenced to seven years in prison, and Martin got four. Both pleaded guilty to the same six charges and specifications as the ones McDonel now faces.

Police say three people walked into the store wearing masks and holding semiautomatic firearms. Police arrested Martin and Bradford later that day during a chase involving several police departments.

A witness to the robbery provided police with a license plate for a rented maroon minivan the three used to leave the scene, and police converged on a Perkinswood Avenue Southeast address. Martin was found under a porch and arrested. Police found items stolen from the store inside the Perkinswood address.