Lorain County juvenile judge could impose adult sentence on McLoyd

ELYRIA — Lorain County Juvenile Judge Frank Janik has ordered juvenile prosecutors to request he impose an adult sentence on accused cop killer and serial robbery suspect Tamara McLoyd, now on juvenile probation in Lorain County. State juvenile justice law allows Janik to request the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office, with reasonable cause to believe another crime has occurred, file a motion to impose an adult sentence already hanging over McLoyd's head as a result of her 2021 conviction for complicity to robbery in Juvenile Court. Janik requested prosecutors file with his court "a motion to invoke the adult portion of the juvenile's dispositional sentence," he wrote in a document filed in his court on Jan. 5. Juvenile defendants who are named "serious youthful offenders" by a juvenile court, as McLoyd was last fall, may receive a "blended" sentence consisting of both a juvenile sentence and an adult sentence. If they successfully complete their juvenile sentence, the adult sentence is dismissed. But if they violate the terms of the juvenile sentence, judges have the power to impose the adult sentence. The law also says that if the prosecutor's office does not file a motion to have McLoyd brought back in front of Janik, he can set a hearing himself. McLoyd, 18, of Garfield Heights, is facing murder, robbery and a host of other felony charges after an alleged robbery spree in Cuyahoga County. Those culminated in the Dec. 31 carjacking and fatal shooting of off-duty Cleveland police Officer Shane Bartek, 25. McLoyd was jailed on $5 million bond, according to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office. Only days before she allegedly took part in a series robberies on Nov. 2, 2021, McLoyd was placed on juvenile probation in Lorain County by Juvenile Judge Frank Janik. He labeled her a "serious youthful offender" based on her admitted participation in an October 2020 robbery in Kipton, which took place when she was still 17. Initially charged with aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and kidnapping and accompanying three-year firearms specifications in April 2021, McLoyd admitted to delinquency by complicity in the commission of an offense (of) robbery in June 2021. As part of her juvenile sentence, which was handed down on Oct. 28,Janik placed McLoyd on probation with supervision transferred to Cuyahoga County; ordered her to get mental health, psychiatric and substance abuse services; ordered to get her GED and find a job; and not to take drugs. She also was ordered not to contact the victims and pay costs of $124, according to juvenile court documents. In a statement on Thursday, the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office further outlined the steps it took in the McLoyd case. McLoyd "was prosecuted as a 'serious youthful offender' and was adjudicated a delinquent based upon her entering an admission to the offense of complicity in the commission of a robbery, a second-degree felony, together with a firearm specification," Chief Assistant Prosecutor Nick Celebrezze, head of the office's Juvenile Division, wrote in the statement provided to The Chronicle. Court records indicate prosecutors recommended an adult sentence of three to four years in prison be imposed. In McLoyd's case, Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Goodall had "argued that Ms. McLoyd should be committed to the Ohio Department of Youth Services until her 21st birthday," Celebrezze wrote. Janik "disagreed, and Ms. McLoyd was placed on on probation with supervision being transferred to Cuyahoga County," he wrote. She was also ordered to cooperate "fully, truthfully, and completely" with prosecutors in the prosecution of her two co-defendants in the Kipton robbery, including by testifying in court, according to court documents. In a judgment entry dated Oct. 29, Janik wrote that "the interest of justice will be better served" by transferring McLoyd's probation oversight to Cuyahoga County. He further ordered all documents related to the case transferred to Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court. However, "the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Probation Department declined to supervise," Celebrezze wrote. Celebrezze's statement is backed up by a letter from Cuyahoga County Juvenile Judge Thomas O'Malley to Janik, written July 22, and stamped as filed in Lorain County Juvenile Court records on Aug. 2. In that letter, O'Malley wrote that the request to transfer McLoyd's juvenile probation supervision to Cuyahoga County was denied because, under Ohio law, "the child has a discretionary SYO (serious youthful offender) disposition and is therefore not eligible for dispositional transfer." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @daveobrienCT.