YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO – U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman announced that Melvin Lee Jackson, 18, and Edgar Ramirez, 22, both of Youngstown, were sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Benita Y. Pearson after they each pleaded guilty to committing a string of armed robberies at several locations in the Youngstown, Struthers and Boardman areas.
“Both of these men will now spend almost two decades behind bars for their actions that terrorized a community,” said U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman. “The length of these sentences should show that pointing a gun at the head of innocent people simply trying to do their job and demanding money will put you in jail for a very long time.”
Melvin Lee Jackson was sentenced to 192 months imprisonment and required to pay $7,870.99 in restitution. Edgar Ramirez was sentenced to 228 months and ordered to pay $4,787.62 in restitution.
From December 17 to December 21, 2019, Jackson and Ramirez committed a series of armed robberies at a Speedway in Boardman, a Subway in Youngstown and a Kwik Fill in Struthers. During each robbery, Ramirez and Jackson held store employees at gunpoint, threatened violence and demanded money.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio would like to acknowledge and thank investigators with the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center and the Youngstown, Boardman, and Struthers police departments for their cooperation with this matter. These cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David M. Toepfer and Yasmine Makridis.