MASON, Ohio — A Warren County judge sentenced a Cincinnati man to 13-15 years in prison for breaking into a Mason home and holding five people at gunpoint.
Darius Deandre Willis, 37, was found guilty of five counts of aggravated robbery, five counts of robbery and two counts of aggravated burglary. All of the charges are felonies.
Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said Willis is accused of breaking into a home at Shadow Lake Mobile Home Village on June 12, 2022, with two other men, all of whom were wearing masks and armed with handguns. The three men held three adults and two children at gunpoint.
Fornshell said "one of the children, an 8-year-old boy, attempted to run from the home and was threatened with a firearm."
The three men initially got away with $900 in cash and some other personal items before driving away.
One of the homeowners said Monday, more than a year later, that everyone in his family is OK and they're trying to move on from what happened to them. Other residents in this mobile home park still feel uneasy about what happened.
Prosecutors said Warren County deputies responded right away and found the three men in their getaway car trying to get away on I-75. That started a high-speed pursuit that ended in Glendale off Chester Road and Sharon Road. All three men ran out of the car, but authorities eventually caught up to Willis, who was hiding under the deck of a home on Chester Road.
"Very, very, very terrifying," said Matthew Rose, another resident of the mobile home park. "I definitely don't want my babies to be in it nothing like that."
Prosecutors said the two other people involved in the home invasion are still at large. They're asking anyone with information to contact the Warren County Sheriff's Office.
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