Root had been free after posting a $10,000 bond set through Kettering Municipal Court before more serious charges were filed against him, and prosecutors had sought a higher bond. He was booked just after 9:45 a.m. into the Montgomery County Jail, records show.
Root’s alleged accomplice, Keyon Asantie Taylor, 19, also of Lewisburg, was arraigned Aug. 20 on the same charges. In addition, Taylor was indicted for two counts of having weapons under disability for a prior offense of violence. He was on supervised probation after he pleaded guilty in August 2020 to grand theft of a firearm and burglary in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, records show.
Taylor’s bond also is $250,000 and he has been held in the Montgomery County Jail since the pair’s Aug. 7 arrest by Kettering police. His attorney filed a motion for a bond reduction, but Judge Dennis Adkins on Monday denied that request.
Both men are pleading not guilty to the crimes.
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
The pair entered an apartment just before 4:30 a.m. Aug. 7 in the 2200 block of East David Road using an unsecured window. They pointed handguns at the girls, ages 15 and 10, and attempted to steal items, but were chased out of the apartment by a dog, according to a statement of facts filed in Kettering Municipal Court. The suspects only managed to take one bag of chips during the robbery.
Root and Taylor also matched the description of two suspects in an Oakwood burglary that took place earlier that night. The suspects in that incident left the guns stolen during the burglary in a bush that a jogger found the next morning. While the jogger was reporting the guns, the suspects pulled up in a black Chevrolet Impala and asked the jogger whether he had found guns.
“The citizen explained he was on the phone with the police and the suspects drove off,” the court document read. “The citizen confirmed the ID through a photo lineup.”
Kettering police found Root and Taylor with the assistance of Lewisburg police.
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