Thursday, July 22, 1999
Robbery trio denied leniency
BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — Three former Simon Kenton High School friends convicted in a 1998 pawn shop robbery will stay behind prison bars.
The three, who nicknamed themselves The 211 Boys — after the police code for robbery — asked for leniency from Kenton Circuit Judge Steve Jaeger. They didn't get it. He said all of them seemed to be making progress on their rehabilitation but were not finished yet.
Matthew Johnson and Brandon Crouthers, both 18, were scheduled to be transferred Wednesday to the Kentucky Department of Corrections. They were juveniles when they robbed the Quick Cash in Taylor Mill 15 months ago, and therefore were in juvenile facilities until now. They could have been allowed to stay in juvenile treatment for several more months, but that would have meant they would be released after that time with no supervision.
Mr. Johnson wanted to be released or stay in the juvenile facility so he could continue in therapy for anger management and other issues.
Mr. Crouthers also asked for more time in treatment, where he said he was learning a lot about why he committed the crimes and how to turn his life around.
But Judge Jaeger did not agree, saying their release without any rules would take away from the seriousness of their crimes. He resentenced them as adults, keeping the same decision for each — 20 years for the pawn shop robbery and 20 years each for two other robberies. The times will run concurrently.
Getaway driver Travis Evans, 19, asked for shock probation. He hoped to convince the judge that he had turned his life around as a student at Thomas More College. He wrote the judge that his favorite book was Plato's Republic and promised that, if released, he would stay on house arrest until he finished at Thomas More. He also promised to maintain a 3.0 grade-point average.
Judge Jaeger denied his request, again writing that he thought Mr. Evans had made some progress on rehabilitating himself, but that he was not finished. That leaves standing Mr. Evans' sentence of 10 years for the pawn shop robbery and five years for the burglary of a neighbor's house.
Mr. Evans was sent back to the Roederer Correctional Complex in Lagrange. Department of Corrections officials will decide to which facilities Mr. Johnson and Mr. Crouthers will go.
Blame Kevin if you are laughing less
Rape conviction haunts family
Flynt won't leave without a fight
Share your feelings about JFK Jr.
Woodstock at 30
Bush in town for fund-raiser
State examiners look at Children Services Board
Time's up for Hyde Park house
13-year-old pleads guilty to raping a fellow inmate
Adoption process going high-tech with videos
Daughter wanted in homicide
Heat will stick around
Home's residents will not relocate
Judge allegedly bomb target
Man wins in Jenny Craig discrimination suit
Pastor 'stable' after malignancy is removed
WCPO-TV reliving its 50 years
Young women face unique heart risks
Three women, a van and the power of performance poetry
Pianist combines concert career with love of wolves
Cheerleaders smile while muscles scream
GET TO IT
Bogus bomb threat was big lesson
City schools consider teaming with Great Oaks
Deerfield Twp. embraces Costco
Dowlin asks about portable cell-phone towers
Expansion beginning at Clermont College
Financial firm builds at Mason office park
Florence names fire chief, public services director
Initial $3M is sought for Fernald job fund
Robbery trio denied leniency
School to buy land for new building site
Schools boss plans to be active
Speaker: Teach kids discipline
State aid, larger tax base may help Fairfield schools avoid levy
Tour offered at new school
TRISTATE DIGEST
Youths earn, learn at fair
