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Woman gets probation for role in Lisbon robbery

LISBON — Determining she may be ready to stop making bad choices, Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge C. Ashley Pike this week ordered probation and Eastern Ohio Correctional Center time to Dawnitta M. Wright, one of three people involved in a robbery in her North Beaver Street apartment last year.

Wright, 27, North Beaver Street, Lisbon, told Pike since her arrest on the charges of kidnapping and robbery, she has been working hard to isolate herself from people influencing her in the past and trying to do what is best for her children and family. She said she is separated from her husband, co-defendant Robert Crespo.

Wright said she had opened her home to another co-defendant, Brianne L. Trump, and did not know until later Trump had invited the two robbery victims there.

“I thought we were friends,” Wright said of her relationship with Trump, adding she had cared for her son. “I opened my home to her and this is the outcome now.”

Wright’s words came after a tearful plea by her father, who spoke in front of the judge and said he never thought he would be in the position of begging for the mercy of the court for one of his daughters. He said he hopes no matter what the outcome of Pike’s decision, Wright learns a lesson from what happened.

“You will have to make changes and as a family, we love you and we will be there for you and for your family,” Emory Wright said, at one point pointing out that all of the family members are in some way responsible for her behavior.

Wright had pleaded guilty to robbery in the case in August and was appearing this week for sentencing. Pike said he was concerned about the “troublesome” facts of the case and Wright’s past, which includes a previous felony. But he said she seems intelligent and he believed she would benefit from the programs at the EOCC. Wright will serve an indefinite period at the EOCC and has been placed on four years probation.

Trump, 24, Alice Street, East Palestine, has already been sentenced to two years for her role in the events of December 2015, when Jonathan R. Cunning of Youngstown and Timothy A. Beaver of East Palestine, were texted by Trump asking them to stop by.

When they arrived, Crespo and Wright jumped out of closet, with Crespo assaulting Cunning, and Wright and Trump beating up Beaver. The apartment door was locked to prevent Cunning and Beaver from escaping. They were then forced to strip down to their underwear, with the trio taking their clothes and other belongings, including their phones, before letting them leave.

Cunning and Beaver made their way to Youngstown, where some friends and relatives joined them in returning to Lisbon to retrieve their property, which is when police were called. Crespo was found with a garbage bag containing some of the stolen items.

Crespo, 29, Roberts Road, Leetonia, is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 18.

djohnson@mojonews.com

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