YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown Municipal Court records now show that the man named in a Youngstown police report as having committed an armed robbery of a Mahoning Avenue cellphone store Wednesday night is Dion L. Taylor, 32, who committed a high-profile crime involving threats to multiple downtown Youngstown buildings in December of 2019.

Taylor was arraigned Friday in Youngstown Municipal Court on six charges — two of aggravated robbery and two of kidnapping — all first-degree felonies — as well felony escape, a second-degree felony, and theft of a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony.

If Taylor is convicted of the offenses, he could get about 50 years in prison.

A Thursday Youngstown police report gave no details on the armed robbery except that officers were called to a blacked out address on Mahoning Avenue at 7:58 p.m. for an aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and other lesser charges and “took statements from the … victims.” It stated that an investigation “led to the suspect’s location and subsequent arrest.”

BUSINESS NOT NAMED

The city’s spokesman, Andy Resnick, later said the business involved was a cellphone store. More specific information about crimes committed against companies is sometimes not provided in Youngstown police reports, apparently because officials believe businesses are considered victims under Ohio’s Marsy’s Law, which protects the identities of crime victims and went into effect in 2023.

Some law enforcement agencies provide a more general way of narrowing down the location of a crime, such as stating that an incident happened in the “2900 block of Market Street,” for instance. The Youngstown Police Department did not do that in this case. It only blacked out all locational information except “Mahoning Avenue.”

Mahoning Avenue in Youngstown spans a distance of about 2.7 miles between downtown Youngstown and Meridian Road at the Austintown line. It’s hard to estimate how many businesses there are in that part of Mahoning Avenue, possibly 100.

OHIO SUPREME COURT RULING

A July 2025 Ohio Supreme Court publication called Understanding Marsy’s Law defines a victim under the law as “A person against whom the criminal offense or delinquent act is committed or someone who has been directly and proximately harmed by the commission of a criminal offense or delinquent act, other than the person who committed the criminal offense or delinquent act.”

But a 2020 Ohio Supreme Court ruling in the case Centerville v. Knab found that a bank had been considered a victim for purposes of restitution when it cashed a forged check.

It states that Marsy’s Law does not contain language to include corporate entities or governmental bodies in its definition of victim and does not define the term “person.”

But the ruling found that Black’s Law Dictionary includes an understanding that an entity such as a corporation “is recognized by law as having most and duties of a human being.”

Webster’s Dictionary also defines a “person” as “an individual human being” or a “human being, a body of persons, or corporation, partnership or other legal entity that is recognized by law as subject of rights and duties.”

The ruling was regarding a municipal corporation or political subdivision, which it found did not qualify for protections under Marsy’s Law under its governmental capacity as a public-service agency responding to a reported crime. But the ruling gave analysis of private corporations in its ruling.

The Ohio Crime Victim Justice Center has a website containing frequently asked questions about Marsy’s Law.

Under a question about whether corporations or businesses are considered victims under Marsy’s Law, it states: “The Ohio Crime Victim Justice Center believes that in certain circumstances a corporation or business may be considered a victim. For example, in a theft case, the local store may be a victim, but the parent corporation may not fall within the definition of victim due to the requirement of the harm being ‘direct and proximate.’ Implementing legislation may provide additional guidance.”

POLICE REPORT

The Youngstown police report provided no details about the robbery itself or how the suspect, Taylor, was captured. The report gave details on how Taylor tried to flee from a Youngstown police officer at 7:20 a.m. Thursday, the day after the robbery, while the officer was transporting Taylor to the county jail. The officer was able to catch up to Taylor on foot and deploy his stun gun on Taylor and take him back into custody. The escape charge was filed because of Taylor’s attempt to flee custody.

The Vindicator did not publish Taylor’s name in its story in Friday’s newspaper because Youngstown Municipal Court records did not list any new charges having been filed against Taylor by press time Thursday. The Vindicator attempts to not publish names of suspects until official charges have been filed against them because prosecutors who file charges in court may disagree with the charges proposed by police officers and their supervisors.

Online Youngstown Municipal Court records accessed Saturday show that Taylor was arraigned Friday afternoon, listed his charges and stated that he returns for a preliminary hearing at 9:15 a.m. Thursday.

PREVIOUS INCIDENT

Taylor is the same man who was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison in August of 2021 for making multiple bomb threats regarding downtown Youngstown buildings Dec. 2, 2019, leading to the evacuation of one of the federal buildings downtown.

In that incident, investigators said, Taylor made threats from a cellphone. The phone was located in the area of West Federal Street downtown near the George V. Voinovich Government Center at the time the call was made.

The threat was that there was a bomb at “the courthouse,” the Youngstown Police Department, George V. Voinovich Government Center and “the county,” authorities stated. It led to the evacuation of the U.S. District Court building on Market Street downtown, but not the evacuation of any of the other buildings.

A second bomb threat call came in later that day. That time, the caller was near The former Vindicator Building on West Front Street. Officers went there and spotted two men, including Taylor, who initially denied he had a cellphone, according to reports.

Taylor later pulled out a cellphone and showed it to an officer, who saw the phone had been used to dial 911 at the same times as the bomb threats. Taylor resisted being arrested, then complained of chest pains and was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where he told officers none of his threats were real.

He said he made the calls because the mother of his child told him she had called his probation officer and the U.S. Marshals were looking for him. He said he called the bomb threat because he wanted his parole officer’s building evacuated to “buy some time.”

In June of 2024, Taylor was sentenced to another 15 months in federal prison for violating the terms of his supervised release for drug use and absconding from a treatment facility.

Taylor was indicted in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on four felony counts of inducing panic for the 2019 threats to downtown Youngstown, but those charges were dismissed in February of 2020, apparently because Taylor was indicted federally in late January 2020.

Taylor had an address on Glenwood Avenue in Youngstown at the time of the threats.