YOUNGSTOWN — Edward J. Thomas Jr., 20, of Youngstown is an inmate at the maximum-security Southern Ohio Correctional Center in Lucasville. He is serving an 18-year prison sentence for crimes he committed in 2020 in Youngstown when he was 14 and 15 years old.

The story of how he ended up there began when Thomas admitted in Mahoning County Juvenile Court in 2020 that he improperly discharged a firearm at or into a habitation or school safety zone during the summer of 2020 and later that year admitted that he escaped from the Mahoning County Juvenile Detention Center.

Those offenses, both high-level felonies, resulted in Mahoning County Juvenile Court Judge Theresa Dellick determining that Thomas met the criteria for a part of Ohio law that is meant to address the most serious youthful offenders by putting them on notice that they potentially could go to adult prison if they behaved badly while in the juvenile justice system.

In Thomas’ case, Dellick found Thomas to be a serious youthful offender and in February 2021 approved juvenile and adult sentences for him. However, she “suspended” Thomas’ adult sentence while he was sent to an Ohio Department of Youth Services facility for a minimum of 12 months on the gun case, 12 months on the escape and six months on an assault.

The Ohio Department of Youth Services is sometimes referred to as juvenile prison, but the DYS website calls DYS the “juvenile corrections system for the state of Ohio.” It is required by Ohio law to “confine felony offenders, ages 10 to 21, who have been adjudicated and committed by one of Ohio’s 88 county juvenile courts,” the website states.

“During their stay with DYS, youth are engaged in programming that is designed to address their criminological and behavioral needs,” the website states. Each DYS facility also operates a year-round school that offers a general high school curriculum and many vocational opportunities.”

THOMAS WARNING

At the time Dellick sentenced Thomas to DYS, she told him his adult sentence, if imposed, would be six years in prison on the gun charge with a five-year, drive-by firearm specification, a six-year sentence on the escape and 12-month sentence on an assault, according to court documents. He was told those sentences would run consecutively for a total of 13 years plus five years for the gun specification, totaling 18 years.

More than three years later, in June 2024, Mahoning County prosecutors filed a motion in Mahoning County Juvenile Court asking that Dellick impose the adult portion of Thomas’ juvenile sentence because of Thomas’ bad behavior in DYS.

They stated “there was reasonable cause to believe (Thomas) had engaged in conduct creating a substantial risk to the safety and security of the institution in which he was housed.”

Several witnesses testified at the Mahoning County Juvenile Court hearing. One said Thomas was “involved in gang-related activity” while in DYS facilities. A DYS supervisor testified that Thomas had 157 conduct-rule violations over two years.

“The offenses included assaults on staff members and other youths, disruptive behavior, destruction of property and fighting,” court documents state. “The evidence offered also included photos and videos depicting (Thomas’) use of gang signs and assaults on other youth.”

A Mahoning County Juvenile Court filing regarding imposition of the adult sentence states that the 157 rule violations Thomas committed relate to rules that “are established for the safety of students and staff.” It added that during the hearing staff said discussions were held with Thomas to “advise him of the negative consequences of his behavior that would result in their request for invoking the adult portion of his commitment.”

DYS staff also discussed attempts “to correct the negative behavior and that the treatment was nonproductive.” The testimony indicated that Thomas’ bad behavior was “unprovoked by the victims.”

Thomas’ attorney presented testimony from Thomas, who said he was a victim of two assaults, “to which no evidence was presented confirming the assault,” the document states.

He said he has been “working on a relapse program and doing anger control training. He said he received his high school diploma and “if given another chance, he will abide by the rules and have a positive mindset.”

In imposing the adult sentence in September 2024, Dellick said Thomas will serve five years of post release control when he leaves adult prison. She gave him credit against his sentence for the several years he spent in DYS facilities and in the Mahoning County Juvenile Detention Center prior to being moved to adult prison Sept. 27, 2024.

ODRC records indicate that Thomas has an expected release / parole eligibility date of Aug. 14, 2038, nearly 13 more years.

APPEALS

Thomas appealed the decision by Dellick to impose the adult sanctions, but her decision was upheld by the 7th District Court of Appeals, though the court ordered Dellick to “determine the total number of days (Thomas) has been held under the juvenile portion” and amend her earlier sentencing ruling to include that information.

Thomas filed a second appeal more recently. He argued that his appeals attorney should have raised the following issue in Thomas’ initial appeal: that Dellick should not have imposed the adult sentence “without clear and convincing evidence that he was unlikely to be rehabilitated” in the juvenile system.

The appeal argued that Thomas had “achieved his highest level of behavior, level four” from February through September of 2024. He “acknowledged that he had behavior issues at the beginning of his (DYS) detention. However, toward the end of his juvenile detention, (Thomas) contends he was regularly attending classes and earning all A’s.”

But in a ruling last week, the 7th District Court of Appeals summarized some of the key points raised at the September 2024 hearing in Mahoning County Juvenile Court. For instance, the deputy superintendent of the Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Correctional Department of Youth Services said Thomas was at that Cleveland-area facility for about two years.

“During that time, (Thomas) was found to have coordinated an assault of a staff member for the benefit of the Heartless Felons (gang)” and that he also committed “violent behavior, refusals to attend school, refusal to participate in programming.”

The Cuyahoga Hills official also said Thomas was an “‘underboss’ before he became HNIC (Head [deleted] in Charge) in the Heartless Felons Gang.”

The official said he met with serious youthful offenders, including Thomas, monthly to “identify and explain what behavior could lead to the adult sentence being invoked.”

In denying Thomas’ second appeal, the 7th District ruling noted that the improved behavior Thomas discussed “corresponds with the (prosecution) filing of its motion to invoke the adult sentence.”

MAHONING COUNTY ESCAPE

Thomas was 15 at the time he and two other juvenile detainees at the Mahoning County Juvenile Detention Center overpowered a guard Nov. 15, 2020, ran to an outdoor courtyard and scaled the fence.

One of the juveniles, Brandon Crump Jr., then 17, was apprehended while still inside the courtyard / basketball area.

A second juvenile, Shawn Douglas, then 17, and Thomas got away from the facility. Douglas was located the next day near the Federal Street station of the Western Reserve Transit Authority downtown and brought back into custody.

Thomas was at large the longest. He was apprehended without incident Dec. 3, 2020, on East Warren Avenue in Youngstown, about 2 1/2 weeks later, and brought back to the detention center by the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force and Youngstown Police Department.

A handgun and ammunition were recovered during Thomas’ arrest, the task force stated in a news release.

Crump was in the detention center at the time in connection with the Sept. 21, 2020, murder of 4-year-old Rowan Sweeney in Struthers. Crump later was sentenced to 52 years to life in prison in Rowan’s death.