The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

July 3, 2008

Sharon man goes to prison for downtown crime spree

By Matt Snyder

SHARON — The man responsible for a string of purse snatchings and a holdup in downtown Sharon last summer said he committed the crimes trying to keep a roof over his head.

Jason R. Troutman, 31, formerly of 188 E. Budd St., Sharon, was sentenced Thursday in four cases on charges that included two counts of felony trespassing, theft and two counts of robbery by Common Pleas Judge John C. Reed.

Defense attorney Raymond H. Bogaty said Troutman suffers from sexual-psychological problems and has a pattern of criminal activity that might require state prison time to address.

“I wouldn’t give up hope on Mr. Troutman, though I think he needs some help to get back on his feet,” Bogaty said.

Troutman stuttered and said he had difficulty expressing himself. But he did say, “I agree I need help.”

The robberies occurred about three months after Troutman was released from a 6-year stay in state prison, where he served the maximum sentence.

In Troutman’s account of the robberies, he said he’d committed them to pay a woman he was staying with $200 that she had blackmailed him into giving her, said court documents.

The documents said Troutman told authorities that the woman blackmailed him by threatening to tell people about his relationship with her son — a man whom Troutman said he thought was a woman.

Reed sentenced him to 5 to 15 years in prison for the most serious crime, robbing a woman July 20 with a fake handgun outside Quaker Steak and Lube in downtown Sharon.

His sentences on the other charges will run concurrently.

In those other three cases, Troutman:

• Asked for a job application July 31 in the Primary Health building at 123 E. State St., Sharon, and took a purse after an employee went to get the application.

• Stole an employee’s purse Aug. 9 in Victor Printing, Victor Way, Sharon.

• Grabbed a woman’s purse Aug. 20 in Primary Health at 197 E. Silver St., Sharon, and got into a tug-of-war with her over it. Court documents said that Troutman threatened to “smash” the woman’s head if she didn’t surrender her purse, which he then took and ran.

“The commonwealth does not feel that this addresses the severity of the crime,” Assistant District Attorney Samuel Zuck said of the sentence.

Zuck said the prosecution disagreed with concurrent sentences for the theft and robbery convictions, noting that the sentence for the armed robbery was in the minimum range of the guidelines.

Troutman was also ordered to pay costs and $245 in restitution to his victims.

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