YOUNGSTOWN — David E. Cobb Jr., 34, pleaded guilty to several felony offenses Monday, including attempted robbery, multiple counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle, and was sentenced to four years in prison.

The convictions stemmed from three separate indictments — two of them from 2017 and one from 2019. Cobb had an address on Sherwood Avenue in all three indictments. But Cobb failed to appear before Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge John Durkin on July 9, 2019, for a hearing in one of his three cases, and Durkin issued a warrant for his arrest.

It took more than five years for him to be arrested, but he was finally booked into the Trumbull County jail Feb. 1 after he was arrested in Liberty earlier that day. Even then, Cobb briefly evaded being identified, but jail officials eventually discovered his true identity.

LIBERTY POLICE

According to a Feb. 1 Liberty police report, an officer on patrol in the area of Belmont Avenue and Colonial Drive noticed a white SUV heading north on Belmont. When the officer began tailing the vehicle, it made a quick lane change and a left turn into the parking lot of a store.

The two people in the car pretended they were going into the store, which was closed, but the officer continued to observe them, the report states.

The officer eventually attempted to pull them over for a traffic stop in a driveway. The men — one of whom was Cobb, the driver — left the vehicle and walked away, ignoring verbal commands to get back in the SUV, the report states.

The front passenger complied, but Cobb continued to walk. Then he returned to the car. The report states that while asking Cobb for his identification, he gave the name “Willie Key,” and the officer put him into handcuffs because of his being hesitant about revealing his identity, the report states.

Cobb then gave the officer another name, “Kevin Merchant,” who had a felony warrant through the Youngstown Police Department for receiving stolen property. Cobb was booked as Merchant and transported to the Trumbull County jail.

The officer later spoke with a Trumbull County jail supervisor, who said they found the real identity of Cobb — who previously presented the name “Kevin Merchant” during a Dec. 6 arrest at the Liberty Walmart.

According to the jail supervisor, the real Kevin Merchant was arrested earlier in Youngstown on a charge of receiving stolen property. A woman close to Merchant called and cleared his name, telling police they had the wrong man and likely had his cousin, Cobb.

The officer noted that looking at his BMV picture, Cobb looked “very similar” to Merchant, even growing his beard and hair to look like him.

Before Durkin handed down Cobb’s sentence on the 2017 and 2019 convictions, Cobb told Durkin he was happy to put these cases behind him and “start over.” He still has pending charges in Girard Municipal Court as a result of the Liberty Township arrest, including misdemeanor falsification.