WARREN - A Warren man burst into tears when he was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years behind bars for his role in a doughnut shop robbery and an armed home invasion in Niles.
Daniel Hoolihan, 21, of Edgewood Street N.E., told Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Andrew Logan that he was sorry for what he had done. And he explained that he wasn't the same person when he was in the midst of the crime spree.
At an earlier court appearance, Hoolihan pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and one count each of burglary and grand theft. He had been in Trumbull County Jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond.
Corey Monroe, 19, of Belvedere Avenue S.E., was sentenced by Logan last week to serve six years behind bars for his part in the same doughnut shop robbery and home invasion.
Howland police earlier credited detectives in Niles with helping them break the case of the May 4 robbery at Dunkin' Donuts on state Route 46, where two would-be gunmen wearing ski masks burst into the business at 5 a.m.
Assistant prosecutor Michael Burnett said the two men used a starter pistol and a pellet gun, which is why the indictments included no specifications that firearms were used to commit felonies.
In August, Hoolihan's girlfriend, Samantha Phillips, 19, of Warren, was indicted on charges of complicity to robbery. Police claim she helped stage the robbery while working as an employee at Dunkin' Donuts. Her case is pending, and she is scheduled for a pre-trial in front of Logan Feb. 14.
Howland Detectives Al Sprocket and Justin Soroka traded information with Niles Detectives Jim Robbins and Dan Adkins, who were working on a robbery at a Niles grocery store parking lot and a home invasion in that city.
The investigators also linked Hoolihan to the robbery of a juvenile in the parking lot of Macali's Giant Eagle on July 7 when cash, cigarettes and a cell phone were taken, investigators said.
Hoolihan and Monroe both were charged with a home invasion June 24 on Cynthia Street in Niles when two men broke in on a couple, put a gun to their heads and robbed them of money, wristwatches and other jewelry, according to Adkins.
David Fritz of Niles, who was robbed with his wife, said they found part of his wristwatch collection because Hoolihan and Monroe were wearing the time pieces.
''It was a bad scene,'' Fritz said, describing one of the men holding a gun to his head and counting down the seconds until he turned over more money or valuables or faced getting shot.