Adult, four juveniles face felony charges for breaking into former JCPenney store at Midway Mall

A Cuyahoga County man and four Lorain County boys are facing multiple criminal charges after reportedly breaking into the former JCPenney store at Midway Mall on April 26, according to Elyria police and court records. The five allegedly stole or tried to steal from the few remaining stores in the mall, smashed furnishings and caused significant water damage when they broke a sprinkler. Responding Elyria police officers chased the five teens out of the mall and arrested them, according to a police report. Officers responded to the former JCPenney store at 10:40 p.m. Friday for a report of someone breaking into the property. The owner of the Cell Fix store saw someone try to break into the store on his security cameras and called police, according to the report. Once inside, two officers heard "glass and metal being destroyed." Peeking inside, they found four juveniles breaking light bulbs and "destroying" the interior of the store, which still had some furnishings inside, according to the report. All four teens ran when an officer announced himself, yelled at them to stop and put their hands up. One of those who ran had a hammer, and the officer chased him into the parking lot, where he dropped the hammer and was caught, according to the report. Police identified the hammer-wielding suspect as William Toth, 19, of Rocky River. After being read his rights, he told officers "he was just exploring with his friends," three of whom he had picked up from North Ridgeville in his truck. Toth, the three teens and a fourth teen from Elyria broke in, stole two exit signs from JCPenney, tried to break into the locked Cell Fix store, took two bottles of water from the cooler at Yihi Japan and spilled sauce on the floor there, Toth told police. Officers found some of the youths hiding outside Johnny K's Powersports and took them into custody. After being read their rights, they told officers that Toth picked them up to "explore" the mall together. In addition to what Toth told police, the boys said their trek involved destroying the interior of JCPenney and stealing two candy jars from a store. As officers talked to them, a fourth juvenile ran out of JCPenney, tripped, fell and was detained, according to the police report. Two stolen exit signs were found in Toth's silver Honda truck, and he admitted stealing them, according to the police report. Midway Mall security walked an officer through the mall to record damage, and Elyria police learned there had been an unknown person going through the mall at night and destroying things inside JCPenney, police reported. Lorain County Port Authority Director Jim Miller, whose agency owns the 58-acre mall property and whose board of directors on Wednesday chose Industrial Commercial Properties of Cleveland to redevelop it as part of a $42 million project, said the five young men did significant damage. They broke glass display cases and light bulbs inside JCPenney and broke a sprinkler head that left "the whole area flooded," he said at Wednesday's Port Authority board meeting. Taken to the Lorain County Jail, Toth was charged with breaking and entering and possession of criminal tools, both felonies, as well as four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count each of theft, criminal damaging and obstructing official business, all misdemeanors. He spent the weekend in the jail, was booked Monday morning and released Wednesday afternoon, according to jail records. He is free on bond, and Elyria Municipal Court records did not list an attorney representing him. The four boys — one aged 16 and three aged 15 — were charged with one count each of breaking and entering, a felony; and theft, criminal damaging and obstructing official business, all misdemeanors. The four boys were picked up from police custody by their mothers. Their charges will be heard in Lorain County Juvenile Court. The Chronicle-Telegram does not typically identify juvenile criminal suspects by name. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.