"Tattoo Revenge" Home Invaders Found Guilty

FROM THE TOLEDO BLADE
Article published March 24, 2009
Man found guilty in home invasion, rape

Cosme Zoom | Photo Reprints

By ERICA BLAKE
BLADE STAFF WRITER

What led four men to a Harding Drive home early one November morning was revenge, a Lucas County assistant prosecutor said Monday- payback to the man who fired them from their jobs and who failed to finish for them something as simple as a tattoo.

Monday, the fourth of those men involved in the home invasion where a 19-year-old woman was sexually assaulted was found guilty for his role in crime.

And what started as revenge will end in prison terms, Assistant Prosecutor Tim Braun said.

Samson Cosme, 20, of 155 Corinth St., entered an Alford plea in Lucas County Common Pleas Court yesterday to one count each of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, rape, and kidnapping. He faces up to 40 years in prison when sentenced by Judge Charles Doneghy on April 2.

"They viewed it as he was the most culpable," attorney Adrian Cimerman said of his client's involvement in the Nov. 4 home invasion.

Mr. Braun said Cosme and co-defendant Dallas Feltner were fired from jobs on the security staff of Club Bijou, 209 North Superior St., by Robert Stroh-
minger. The two also were disgruntled that Mr. Strohminger had not finished tattoos for either of them because they had not paid all the money, Mr. Braun added.

They decided to retaliate by barging into Mr. Strohminger's home at gunpoint, duct-taping the occupants, and stealing several items. While there, two of the men, including Cosme, sexually assaulted a woman.

"It sounds like revenge," Mr. Braun said. "It sounds like this was just, 'I'm going to make you suffer. I'm going to make you feel pain.' "

Last week, Feltner, 19, of 155 Corinth St., pleaded to one count of burglary. He faces up to eight years in prison when sentenced.

Authorities said that although he was involved in the burglary, he was not among those who raped the woman and that he cooperated with the investigation.

In February, Ruben Heard III, 20, of 1420 Macomber St., Apt. B, entered an Alford plea to one count each of aggravated burglary, kidnapping, and rape and faces up to 30 years in prison. He was the second man involved in the rape of the woman.

A fourth man, Lakeith Myers, 18, of 890 Prouty Dr., entered an Alford plea to burglary and faces up to five years in prison. Authorities
said he aided the other three by telling them the number of people in the home but did not participate in the home invasion.

In an Alford plea, the defendant maintains his innocence or does not admit he committed a crime, but still pleads guilty because he decides it's in his best interest. The court treats it as a guilty plea.

Mr. Braun said that the three masked men who barged into the home took their time once there. They stole televisions, cash, and a tattoo machine, he said.

One of them grabbed the duct-taped woman and took her to a back bedroom where she was assaulted.

Calling the crime vicious, Mr. Braun said that the pleas were reached in part so that the sexual assault victim was not forced to testify multiple times at trial. He added that each of the defendants made statements to police and that each admitted involvement in the crime.

The men are all to be sentenced April 2.

FROM THE TOLEDO BLADE