YOUNGSTOWN — An assistant prosecutor called Abigail L. Acosta, 23, of Victor Avenue, “a small cog in a fairly large theft ring” as he asked Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Monday to give her three years of probation.

The judge agreed, also ordering Acosta to perform five days of community service.

Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews said that as part of Acosta’s plea agreement, she must continue to cooperate with prosecutors and the Ohio State Highway Patrol, which investigated the vehicle thefts.

If Acosta fails to live up to the terms of her agreement, prosecutors will ask the judge to revoke her probation, Andrews said.

Brian Tareshawty, Acosta’s attorney, told the judge Acosta “had nothing to do with the thefts,” but she “made some mistakes along the way” by not leaving her boyfriend / co-defendant Ronald J. Adams, 23, of Columbia, S.C., and not cooperating with investigators initially.

Adams and Acosta are two of five people indicted in the case. The others are Derrian M. Thomas, 19, Colby Avenue, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, two counts of breaking and entering, one count of theft, one count of receiving stolen property and 17 counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle; Brandon M. Ogden, 23, Victor Avenue, one count of breaking and entering and 15 counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle; and Derrick L. Thomas, 48, Parkcliffe Avenue, five counts of receiving stolen property.

Adams was indicted on engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, four counts of breaking and entering, one count of theft and 20 counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle.

Tareshawty said Acosta lived with Adams, who would “routinely beat her. If she tried to leave him, he would beat her. She has pictures on her phone of the beatings,” Tareshawty said.

Prosecutors said the theft ring participants took dirt bikes, motorcycles and an all-terrain vehicle from outside of people’s homes in Canfield, Springfield, Boardman and Goshen townships, mostly in March and April of 2020.

Another target was Point View Cycle in Canfield, where about a dozen or more motorcycles were taken April 8 and 9, 2020.

Many of the stolen items were found in an apartment on Victor Avenue on Youngstown’s East Side.

When Adams “brought these motorcycles in at 5 in the morning, she should have left,” Tareshawty told the judge. She and Adams lived together about 18 months.

She went back to her native Puerto Rico for a while, then came back and told investigators what she knew about the thefts, Tareshawty said.

erunyan@vindy.com