Staff photo / Ed Runyan Dion L. Taylor, 32, right, waived his preliminary hearing Thursday in Youngstown Municipal Court, and his aggravated robbery and kidnapping charges were bound over to a Mahoning County grand jury. He is accused of robbing a cellphone store June 24 on Mahoning Avenue in Youngstown. At left is his attorney, Tony Meranto.

YOUNGSTOWN — Dion L. Taylor, 32, waived his preliminary hearing Thursday in Youngstown Municipal Court on two counts of aggravated robbery, 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.

Judge Carla Baldwin bound Taylor’s case over to the Mahoning County grand jury. If convicted, Taylor could get about 50 years in prison.

During Thursday’s hearing, Taylor’s attorney said he was able to view a video that was provided by police and was not going to require the prosecution to produce evidence to prove probable cause in the case.

The criminal complaints on file in Youngstown Municipal Court allege that Taylor, of East Lucius Avenue, committed the crimes June 24. City officials have said the robbery took place at a cellphone store on Mahoning Avenue, though Taylor also was accused of trying to escape from a police officer the next day after Taylor was arrested.

The aggravated robbery charges accuse Taylor of having a deadly weapon on or about his person or under his control while committing a theft offense. The two kidnapping counts apparently relate to two victims being restrained during the alleged aggravated robbery.

The escape alleges Taylor broke or attempted to break detention. A Youngstown police report stated that while a Youngstown police officer was trying to take Taylor to the Mahoning County jail June 25, he tried to flee.

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 theft of a motor vehicle occurred the night of the aggravated robbery, according to Taylor’s criminal complaint.

EARLIER CONVICTION

Taylor is the same man who was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison in August 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 case, 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 having 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.”