A man serving a Pennsylvania prison sentence for five robberies in the Shenango Valley in 2015 has been turned over to Trumbull County authorities to face charges of robbing two businesses in Masury.
Phillip J. Root, 41, was booked into the Trumbull County Jail Aug. 21 and arraigned by video Aug. 25 by Trumbull County Eastern District Court Judge Marty Nosich. Because the charges of two counts of aggravated robbery are felonies, he did not enter a plea. He waived a preliminary hearing set for Aug. 27, allowing the case to be bound over for a grand jury.
Root is accused of robbing Dollar General, 8229 Addison Road, on Jan. 31, 2015, getting away with $256, police said. He also has been charged with robbing Mac’s Circle K, 902 S. Irvine Ave., on Feb. 2, 2015, and pocketing $72, police said.
Police only released the initial reports, which do not include descriptions of the alleged incidents, and Brookfield Police Det. Sgt. Aaron Kasiewicz said the robberies occurred so long ago that he didn’t remember the circumstances.
Mercer County officials in Pennsylvania prosecuted Root for five robberies in January and February 2015, two each in Sharon and Hermitage and one in Farrell. Root pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery, consolidating all the charges.
promoAt his sentencing in December 2015, Root said the robberies were a result of his drug use, something he had started at the age of 9, and that he was a “zombie” due to his abuse of Xanax at the time of the robbery spree.
Root was sentenced to 5 to 10 years in prison.