ELYRIA — Police arrested a 20-year-old Elyria man Monday night who told police he was at the scene of the armed robbery of a pizza deliveryman earlier that same night.

Winborn

Jay WinBorn crashed his car around 10:44 p.m. in the 1000 block of Melvyn Lane and was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, according to a police report. WinBorn’s Breathalyzer test registered 0.168 — twice the legal limit, the report said.

Detective Sgt. Lee Frank said WinBorn, who originally told police he crashed his car because someone was shooting at him, was being driven to the station by an officer when the two started talking.

That’s when WinBorn said he was at the scene of the armed robbery of a Romeo’s Pizza deliveryman a couple of hours earlier.

“I don’t know if (WinBorn) was trying to get out of trouble for the OVI,” Frank said. “Officers are trained to try to establish rapport with suspects. WinBorn may have been trying to build goodwill by saying ‘I know something about a robbery.’ The officer then interviewed him.”

While police are unclear how many men were involved in the robbery, they think four men set up the deliveryman when they ordered a pizza delivered to a vacant apartment in the 400 block of West Avenue, Frank said.

When the 19-year-old deliveryman arrived a little after 8:30 p.m., the men forced him behind the building and into a vacant apartment where they pointed a gun at his head, stole his car keys, $40 cash, the pizza and a knife before fleeing on foot, a police report said.

The deliveryman ran through yards, climbing over fences, until he reached West Avenue and flagged down a driver who called the police.

“I don’t think (WinBorn) realized by giving some of this information and letting it be known he was there that he would be charged as well,” Frank said. He added that it’s unclear if WinBorn was the one with the gun.

Police are still searching for the other men involved.

“It’s sketchy at this point,” Frank said. “We’re still investigating it. At this point, we have some suspects and we’re following up on those leads, but no one has been identified.”

Contact Alicia Castelli at 329-7144 or acastelli@chroniclet.com.

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