Downtown Pizza robber indicted by grand jury

A man who allegedly robbed two pizza shop employees while awaiting sentencing on theft charges earlier this year has been indicted on two counts of aggravated robbery.

Dimitri Buckel of Lorain was indicted by the Lorain County grand jury last week for the Aug. 13 hold-up of two employees of Downtown Pizza. At the time of the robbery he was awaiting sentencing in Lorain County Common Pleas Court on theft and forgery charges coming out of Oberlin in March of this year.

According to police reports, Buckel appeared at the door of Downtown Pizza as two female employees were preparing to leave. When they told him the store was closed, he allegedly showed them a gun tucked into the waistband of his pants and demanded money from the cash register.

When he demanded more, the employees gave him money from the night deposit bag. Buckel told the women to count to 30 before moving, and left.

Using a photo from a security camera, police detective Victor Ortiz was able to identify Buckel. He was arrested at his Lorain home on Friday, Aug. 15, by officers of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitives Task Force, parole officers, Lorain police officers, and Ortiz.

He was indicted Wednesday by the grand jury on two counts of aggravated robbery with firearms specifications, and one count of having weapons while under disability.

He remains in the Lorain County jail in lieu of $35,000 cash bond and on a hold from the Adult Parole Authority for a probation violation for a robbery conviction in Clark County in 2004.