Staff photo / Ed Runyan Louis Lebron, 19, left, was sentenced to 30 days in the Mahoning County jail, a treatment program and restitution Wednesday for a burglary at an apartment building on Crandall Avenue on the North Side in July.

YOUNGSTOWN — Louis Lebron, 19, of Struthers, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in the Mahoning County jail for a July burglary at an apartment building on Crandall Avenue on the North Side in which he and another man broke into a man’s apartment and “kicked the bathroom door open,” but never had a chance to do anything else.

“Fortunately before anything else could have happened — I don’t know what the intent was — YPD arrived and arrested” Lebron and co-defendant Emanuel J. Carter, 21, said Steve Maszczak, assistant county prosecutor. Carter will be sentenced later on the same charge.

Lebron pleaded guilty earlier to a high-level felony burglary charge, which could have resulted in up to eight years in prison.

“This is not the worst form of the offense, but I would say it’s pretty appalling that someone would go into someone’s residence and commit any type of crime inside of that residence as part of a trespass,” Maszczak said.

Lebron’s plea agreement had a recommendation that Lebron get probation and restitution, which was set at $400 to replace and install a replacement door for the one that was broken.

Maszczak noted that the factors working against Lebron are that he has a juvenile record and violated the terms of his bond while awaiting sentencing in this case by being charged with two misdemeanor offenses in Youngstown, criminal trespass Dec. 10 and resisting arrest Dec. 30.

“There is this continued connection with law enforcement, which is troubling to say the least,” Maszczak said. “He’s 19 years old, and this is a tough start in his adult life.” The burglary conviction will be significant punishment itself, he added. Maszczak said the victim has not replied to Maszczak’s attempts to contact him.

Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge John Durkin asked Lebron to explain why he and Carter broke into the home, and Lebron said he was doing it because Carter said they should because of something the victim had done to Carter’s sister. A Youngstown police report stated that it had to do with a woman overdosing.

The report stated that when they arrived, they saw a door to the apartment building open and saw two men leave the building and run south through the backyard. Then officers saw Lebron and Carter running toward officers. One of them ran back up the stairs, but both were arrested.

Officers then spoke to a person who said when the witness saw the men running in the hallway of the apartment, he locked himself in his bathroom.

Durkin told Lebron a saying from former Youngstown State University president and former Ohio State and YSU football coach Jim Tressel: “Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.”

The judge said it appears “the people you are running around with are taking you on a direct path to prison. I don’t know if you appreciate how close you are today, right now, to going to prison.”

And Durkin said he doesn’t know if Lebron realizes “how lucky you are that the prosecutor is asking for you to get probation. I think primarily it is because you are 19 years old.” The judge noted that Lebron’s “childhood was rough.”

“But It is time to start making some choices about who you are running with.”

“I agree,” Lebron said.

The judge and Maszczak said Lebron would have been kept in jail after he was charged with misdemeanors in December if they had known about them sooner.

When Lebron leaves jail, he will be evaluated to determine whether he qualifies for an alternative sentencing program through the Community Corrections Association of Youngstown. Violating the terms of his probation could lead to prison, the judge said.