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WARREN -- Unlike in most cases, Craig Sims, 19, of Warren did not waive his preliminary hearing Thursday in Warren Municipal Court.
It meant that Warren prosecutors had to put on testimony to support their contention there was probable cause an aggravated burglary took place at an apartment on Beal Street Northwest Aug. 25 and that Sims was the person who committed it.
Judge Natasha Natale presided over the hearing, listening to the testimony of Warren police officer Will Fowler, who was one of officers who responded to the apartment and spoke with the alleged victim and a second woman.
At the end of the hearing, Natale said she found probable cause and bound the case over to a Trumbull County grand jury. She declined to reduce Sims' $150,000 bond. Sims appeared for the hearing in a jail jumpsuit. The aggravated burglary is a first-degree felony. If he were to be convicted of that charge, he could get about 10 years in prison.
Under questioning by Assistant Warren Prosecutor Diane Barber, Fowler repeated similar information as in the police report: He spoke with the alleged victim, who said she allowed Sims, her ex-boyfriend, to come to her new apartment that night to get some belongings.
When he entered, he questioned who helped her move in, and she said it was her grandparents, which caused Sims to make negative remarks about her grandparents, and she told him to leave, which he did.
But a few moments later, "there was a kick at the door, and they heard someone running down the steps," Fowler said.
Then there was "another kick, the door popped open and [Sims] was standing there holding a gun. She said he pointed it at her," Fowler said. She ran to the back of the apartment and Sims threatened her and left.
Another officer made a traffic stop on Sims' car on the Summit Street Bridge a couple of miles away and detained him, but no gun was located on Sims or in his car. The alleged victim described the gun as a "peanut-butter-and-jelly gun" because of its tan and purple color, Fowler said.
He said that "based on the pretty good description of the weapon, even though we didn't locate one, the sergeant advised to go ahead" and take Sims into custody. Fowler said he looked in the areas around the apartment building for a gun and did not find one.
Barber asked if it's correct that the Summit Street Bridge is near the Mahoning River, and Fowler agreed that it is. Fowler said the alleged victim identified Sims as the suspect when she called 911.
Defense attorney Desirae DiPiero asked Fowler about the discussion he had with his sergeant about what charge should be filed. Fowler said he told the sergeant he felt "we had enough for a burglary. As far as the aggravated burglary with a weapon not being recovered, I didn't know if we had enough for aggravated burglary. And I made the comment to him that it could possibly ... be an aggravated trespass."
DiPiero asked Fowler whether kicking in the door constitutes aggravated burglary, and Fowler noted that there was "damage to the door frame and without permission to be there."
DiPiero asked Fowler where his fellow officer was at the time he located Sims' car. Fowler said he believes the officer was on Mahoning Avenue heading south at the time, then turned right onto the Summit Street Bridge.
DiPiero asked if there was any report of an officer seeing anything being "discarded" from Sims' vehicle on the Summit Street Bridge while they were watching it, and Fowler said "not that I recall."
When officers spoke to Sims after apprehending him, Sims said the woman was lying when she said Sims had a firearm.
In asking for a bond reduction for Sims, DiPiero said Sims has a job at a Vienna factory and is a high school graduate. Sims does not have any previous criminal cases on file in Warren Municipal Court or Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.