Austintown investigating $12,000 jewelry theft

Staff report

AUSTINTOWN

Someone stole about $12,000 in sterling-silver jewelry from the JCPenney store along Mahoning Avenue on Monday night, according to a police report.

Officers responding just after 1:30 p.m. Wednesday found that a cable securing the jewelry counter display case had been cut by an unknown tool, the report states.

There are no witnesses to the theft, according to the report.

Employees did note a man known to have stolen from the store in the past was in the store that evening, and gave police his description.

In an unrelated theft later that Wednesday, two reported shoplifters were nabbed trying to leave the store wearing stolen clothes and concealing other items, all valued at nearly $200, according to separate reports.

Jacob T. Graham, 33, and John R. Pinkerton, 25, both of Beloit, each face a misdemeanor count of petty theft. Graham also faces a felony count of drug abuse and a misdemeanor count of possessing criminal tools, for allegedly using a pair of clippers and a box cutter to remove the items’ security tags, according to the report.

Police also found methamphetamine inside a folded $10 bill as well as a credit card in a different person’s name in Graham’s wallet.

Inside the suspects’ vehicle, police found electronics totaling nearly $280 stolen from the Austintown Wal-Mart just prior, according to the report. That theft was caught on surveillance footage.

Both Graham and Pinkerton are in the Mahoning County jail pending arraignment Wednesday in the county area court in Austintown.

They were banned from the JCPenney store.