YOUNGSTOWN — A judge has found Samuel D. Arroyo competent to stand trial in an episode last summer when he is alleged to have robbed two couples in downtown Youngstown, one after the other.

Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge John Durkin found Arroyo, 19, competent following a hearing Tuesday. The judge ordered an evaluation to be carried out by the Forensic Psychiatric Center of Northeast Ohio in Austintown after Arroyo’s attorney, Tom Zena, requested an evaluation to determine Arroyo’s competence to stand trial and to determine whether Arroyo is not guilty by reason of insanity.

Arroyo was indicted in August on four counts of aggravated robbery, each with a firearm specification, in the late July 19 back-to-back robberies of people on West Federal Street in downtown Youngstown.

A Youngstown police report stated that officers were called to West Federal Street and Symphony Place at 11:41 p.m. for a man and woman who had been robbed. Officers spoke to two sets of victims, who both said they were robbed by a light-skinned man wearing black clothing and a ski mask.

The first couple said they were walking east on West Federal Street near Hazel when they were approached by the man, who pointed a handgun at them and demanded “all you got.”

He took a black shoulder bag from the man that had the word “murder” in white embroidery on it. The bag contained a wallet, car keys, two debit cards and a Republic of South Korea identification card. The suspect then fled west on West Federal and then north on North Hazel Street, where he encountered two other people and robbed them also, the report states.

The suspect was described in the same way by the other couple, and he also pointed a gun at them and told them to “give it up.” They handed over a white purse containing an iPhone in a yellow flower case, a debit card and keys to a Toyota.

The man gave up his iPhone and an Ohio State-issued identification card. The suspect then fled north on North Hazel Street.

Officers started checking the area and one officer found the white purse in the parking lot near the Social Club on nearby Commerce Street.

As officers spoke to one set of victims at West Federal and Hazel streets, they observed Arroyo walking toward them westbound on West Federal Street, and he matched the description of the suspect. He was wearing the black shoulder bag with the word “murder” on it.

Officers took Arroyo into custody. The other set of victims returned to the area where the officers and Arroyo were, and told officers they saw the suspect again after they were robbed. He was near Phelps and Commerce streets.

They lost sight of the suspect, then saw that he was with officers, they said.

Officers found a handgun and marijuana in the black bag, as well as stolen items. Arroyo also had a black ski mask in his pocket.

Arroyo told police the gun belonged to his brother, whom he did not identify, the report states.