Detective draws similarities among recent Y'town robberies

YOUNGSTOWN

The detective investigating the robbery earlier this month of a Youngstown-Poland Road fast-food restaurant testified in municipal court that the way the robbery was carried out matched other robberies in the city since the first of the year.

Detective Sgt. Michael Lambert also testified today one of two suspects who chose to have a preliminary hearing, Jayquan McMullen, 21, of Taft Avenue, spent the equivalent of “juvenile life” in the custody of the Department of Youth Services for a series of similar robberies in 2013.

McMullen and co-defendant Kailio Robinson, 21, of Pasadena Avenue, had charges of aggravated robbery bound over to a Mahoning County grand jury by Judge Renee DiSalvo. Robinson waived his right to a preliminary hearing while McMullen’s case was bound over after the hearing in his case.

The two were arrested Jan. 16 after a foot-and-vehicle chase after police responded to a call of a robbery at Taco Bell, 428 Youngstown-Poland Road.

Lambert said he believes McMullen drove for a pair of men who robbed the restaurant at gunpoint, forcing employees and patrons to the floor as they took money from the cash register and put it in backpacks before running to a waiting white SUV.

Read more about the case in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.