By ED RUNYAN

Staff writer

YOUNGSTOWN — Forrest B. Lytell, 83, of Idaho Road in Austintown, was indicted Thursday on felony robbery in the Nov. 20 robbery of the PNC Bank branch on Mahoning Avenue in Austintown. If he is convicted, Lytell could get about eight years in prison.

An Austintown police report states that Lytell walked into the bank, waited in line and then handed a teller a note saying “give me all the money or else.” When police arrived at 10:20 a.m., they spoke to the teller.

She described a short, white man in glasses and a ball cap. She said she filled a bag with $319 in cash from her drawer, $250 in bait currency — a set of bills with specific serial numbers used to catch bank robbers — and $40 in tracked currency. After taking the money, he fled through the front door, the report states.

The tracked currency gave police a GPS signal that they followed to 72 Anderson Ave., a road just north of Salvatore’s Italian restaurant.

Police swarmed the area and located Lytell almost immediately. They arrested him without incident. The report states that when police arrived, the arresting officer saw Lytell trying to flee into the nearby woods.

The officer, Sgt. Rick John, told Lytell to “stick em up” and Lytell complied. The report states that when an officer asked if he had anything to say, Lytell — unaware of the tracking device in his stolen money — asked “how did you guys find me so fast?”

The report states that Lytell directed police to the money, which he had tried to hide beneath the back corner of a shed on the Anderson Avenue property.

The report states that Lytell called in a false robbery complaint at that same bank an hour earlier.

A separate report states that after determining there was no active robbery going on, police went to his home and asked him about the call.

The report states he eventually admitted to making the call because he said he saw a suspicious person at the bank and did not think there would be such a large response to his call.

SECOND CASE

In another Austintown case, Nathaniel J. Frybarger, 31, of the Mahoning County jail, was indicted Thursday on charges of aggravated robbery, two counts of kidnapping and single counts of felonious assault and resisting arrest in a Nov. 15 stabbing at the business Advanced Technologies Partners, 5211 Mahoning Ave.

When police arrived at the business for a 9:40 a.m. call, they were directed to a man standing inside the business, who said a man with long dark hair, tattoos and dark skull cap cut him on the hand, took his wallet and ran from the business.

The description matched Frybarger, who had been warned off the property of a few businesses earlier that day, an Austintown police report states. Ambulance personnel attended to the victim’s “moderate” cut on his hand. The victim said he had gone into the bathroom at the business and saw the suspect inside. The suspect pulled out a knife and demanded money. The victim said he had none and was forced to show the suspect that his wallet had no money inside. The suspect threatened to stab the victim and demanded money again, the report states.

The victim gave the suspect his credit card. The suspect kept asking for the victim’s PIN number, with the victim trying to “de-escalate” the situation by talking about his life and family, but the suspect continued to threaten him with the knife, the report states.

The suspect forced the victim to remove his shoes and socks and forced him to lift up his foot so the suspect could “smell his bare feet,” the report states.

The suspect finally shoved the victim into the “stall area” where the urinal was located and cut the victim on the hand. A co-worker of the victim came into the bathroom but left quickly to report the incident. The suspect then left the bathroom after threatening to return and shoot the victim if he said anything, the report states.

The suspect followed the co-worker to his office, but the co-worker locked his office door. The co-worker yelled to someone to call police, and the suspect left the building. Officers located Frybarger nearby and found the victim’s property on him, the report states. Frybarger was then taken to jail.

Others indicted Thursday are:

• Michael Cornwell, 32, Mahoning County jail, rape and gross sexual imposition.

• Michael J. Gordon, 50, Cannon Road, Austintown, trespass in a habitation when a person is present or likely to be present and criminal damaging or endangering.

• E. Harver, 36, South Schenley Avenue, Boardman, cocaine possession and fentanyl related compound possession.

• D. Howell, 29, Mahoning County jail, aggravated drug possession, obstructing official business and resisting arrest.

• W. Cheatham Jr., 34, Lakewood Avenue, failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer and failure to stop after a nonpublic road accident.

• A. Recchiuti, 53, Mahoning County jail, intimidation, assault and menacing.

• D. Brown, 23, West Pine Street, Lisbon, failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer and two counts of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse or a combination of them (OVI).

• J. Taylor, 45, Mahoning County jail, theft.

• T. Price, 45, Thornhill Road, burglary and misdemeanor theft and receiving stolen property.

• L. Cunningham, 21, West Chalmers Avenue, tampering with evidence, improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle, carrying a concealed weapon and obstructing official business.

• W. Watters, 46, Mahoning County jail, failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer, fentanyl related compound possession and unauthorized use of a vehicle.

• A. Kitchen, 23, Mahoning County jail, two counts of felonious assault.