3 arrested after chase over snow-covered roads

Print Story

Email to Friend

Discuss this story

The manager wrestled for a hair dryer. Two men and a woman were arrested.

YOUNGSTOWN — A snowplow driver working in the Walgreens lot on Belmont Avenue early Wednesday tried to block a robbery suspect's car and then followed it until police caught up.

"It was just petty shoplifting that turned into something more," the manager of the North Side store said today. "I thought it would be a nice quiet night" because of the weather.

Reports show a hair dryer worth $40 was taken from the store and later recovered by police who pursued the getaway car to the East Side on treacherous snow-covered roads.

The driver and two passengers were arrested around 1:45 a.m. Wednesday on Nelson Avenue. They are:

Aaron Taylor, 45, of Miltonia Avenue, who was charged with robbery.

Kevin Sabo, 29, same address, who was charged with complicity to robbery and driving under suspension. He was also wanted on outstanding warrants for failure to appear on charges of driving under suspension and drug paraphernalia.

Stephanie Rodriguez, no age, but also of Miltonia, who was wanted on a warrant out of Trumbull County. She was released to Hubbard police.

With municipal courts closed Wednesday because of the weather, Taylor and Sabo had to wait until today to be arraigned.

Manager follows suspect

The store manager, when interviewed by police, said a man entered the store around 1:20 a.m., removed a hair dryer from a shelf, put it under his coat and then walked around for a few minutes. The manager said the man then placed the hair dryer on the counter, saying he had to go outside to get his bank card, but she told him to not return to the store.

The suspect then grabbed the hair dryer and ran out. The manager jumped the counter and ran outside, too. Once outside, the suspect, later identified as Taylor, tried to get in the rear passenger side of the Pontiac, and the store manager tried to grab the hair dryer from him, police said. While the manager and suspect struggled, the driver got out, opened the passenger door and pulled the two combatants apart.

As the Pontiac made its way through the parking lot, the snowplow driver tried but wasn't able to block its path. Reports show the snowplow driver then followed the car.

The suspects' car, a Pontiac Sunbird, traveled from Fifth Avenue to Logan Avenue, Albert Street, Atkinson Avenue and finally stopped in the 2000 block of Wardle avenue, reports show.

Captured

Patrolman Kerry Wigley was first to catch up to the car. Detective Sgts. John Payne and Ismael Caraballo and Patrolmen T.A. Brown and Brad DiTullio had joined the chase.

Sabo, the driver, and Taylor, the rear passenger, got out of the Pontiac and ran, police said. Rodriguez remained in the front seat of the car with the engine still running.

Police said Sabo jumped a fence and landed in a backyard on Nelson, where he lay in the snow in a wooded area north of Wardle and was caught by Brown and DiTullio. Taylor was found hiding in the wooded area and taken into custody by Caraballo.

When police towed the Pontiac, they found the hair dryer.

Jail authorities said both Taylor and Sabo were last booked July 27, 2006, and given an emergency release that same day.

Taylor was charged with theft and drug paraphernalia; Sabo was charged with violation of a restriction and drug paraphernalia.

Thursday, February 15, 2007