Israel Graham, left, stands near his attorney, Ed Hartwig, during Graham’s sentencing hearing Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Graham received a 28-year prison sentence for a 2018 Campbell Burger King robbery committed with his brother, Caleb Graham, who pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated robbery last year. Staff photo / Ed Runyan

YOUNGSTOWN — Israel Graham and his brother Caleb Graham, both of Youngstown, received vastly different prison sentences Monday for their roles in an Oct. 28, 2018, armed robbery at the Burger King in Campbell.

Israel, 23, got 28 years in prison after taking the case to trial last month and being found guilty of aggravated robbery, three counts of kidnapping and a single count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Caleb, who pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated robbery last year, received a seven-year sentence. He did not testify against his brother.

During Israel Graham’s trial, three Burger King employees testified that they recognized Israel’s voice during the robbery because Israel had been a shift manager at the restaurant until two weeks earlier. Both robbers were wearing masks, the employees said.

The kidnapping charges relate to the robbers moving the employees around the restaurant at gunpoint against their will.

Israel Graham was convicted of felonious assault in Portage County Common Pleas Court in 2019 for pushing a former girlfriend into a glass table at her Kent apartment after she refused to lie for him and say that he was with her at the time of the robbery.

He assaulted the woman with an object, possibly a Hookah pipe, causing deep lacerations to her head, face and arms, Kent police said. The largest wound on her right arm was so severe that fatty tissue was coming out of the wound, according to a Kent police report.

He has served about 2 1/2 years of that sentence. The Grahams have the same address on Kenneth Street.

During Israel’s sentencing hearing his attorney, Ed Hartwig, said Israel maintains his innocence and would not address Judge Maureen Sweeney before sentencing.

In announcing her sentence, the judge said there was great mental impact on the three victims of the kidnappings.

In Caleb Graham’s hearing, Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews said Caleb has “a very minimum record compared to Israel’s.”

Prior to sentencing, defense attorney Doug Taylor said Caleb’s most serious conviction before this was drunken driving.

“He is an Army veteran and as a profession is a diesel mechanic,” Taylor said. “He had everything to lose. Man, he just got sucked into this thing. In this job market, he would have had no problem at all getting a great job and having a great career.”

Caleb then also apologized for the robbery and said he hopes the victims “get help if they were traumatized by the incident.”

The third hearing in the case was the sentencing of Tyrica K. Stephens, 21, of Youngstown, who initially was charged with the same aggravated robbery and kidnapping charges as the Graham brothers but pleaded guilty to one low-level felony of obstructing official business and testified in Israel Graham’s trial.

She received no jail time and was placed on two years of probation and must carry out five days of community service through the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.

She was in a relationship with Israel Graham at the time of the robbery, she said. Israel told her a few days in advance that he was going to rob the restaurant, she said. He gave her $400 as “hush money” after it was over, she testified.

Stephens was among the workers at the restaurant at the time of the robbery but did not participate physically in the robbery, Andrews said.

“Her testimony was an important part of securing conviction against Israel,” Andrews told the judge prior to sentencing.

erunyan@vindy.com