A man walking in Rawson Park in Findlay, Ohio, was surrounded by three people — two of them holding knives — and robbed of his belongings, including an electric scooter, in the early hours of Sunday, November 1, and by the end of the police response a 31-year-old Findlay man and two teenagers, ages 14 and 15, were under arrest on first-degree felony charges, according to the Findlay Police Department. Jacob Kelley, 31, was charged with complicity to aggravated robbery and booked into the Hancock County Justice Center. The two juveniles were arrested on aggravated robbery charges and taken to the Wood County Juvenile Detention Center. All of the charges are accusations; everyone charged is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
Source: The Fostoria Free Press, reporting Findlay Police Department, Nov. 1, 2026
Surrounded in the park: what police say happened
Officers were called to Rawson Park at 1:16 a.m. on Sunday for a report of an aggravated robbery, the department said. The victim told police that three people approached him in the park, that two of them had knives, and that the group closed in around him and took several of his belongings, among them an electric scooter. Police have not said whether the victim was hurt, and they have not described any injury in the information released so far. Local television outlets WTOL 11 and 13abc (WTVG) also reported the arrests on Sunday, citing the Findlay Police Department.
Officers searching the surrounding area found a man who matched the description of one of the suspects at a house in the 100 block of Shinkle Street, not far from the park. After investigating, police said they had probable cause to arrest him. He was identified as Jacob Kelley, 31, of Findlay, charged with complicity to aggravated robbery — a first-degree felony — and booked into the Hancock County Justice Center, the county jail in Findlay.
Source: The Fostoria Free Press, reporting Findlay Police Department, Nov. 1, 2026
A search warrant, the Emergency Response Team, and two teenagers inside
Investigators then came to believe the other two suspects, along with the stolen items, were inside the same Shinkle Street home. Police obtained a search warrant and served it with help from the department's Emergency Response Team. Inside, officers found two juveniles, ages 14 and 15, and detained them. Once their identities were confirmed, both were arrested on aggravated robbery charges — also first-degree felonies — and taken to the Wood County Juvenile Detention Center, the regional juvenile facility in Bowling Green. Most of the stolen property was recovered and returned, according to police. The two teenagers have not been named, and this report does not name them; juveniles in Ohio are identified by age in police reporting.
Source: The Fostoria Free Press, reporting Findlay Police Department, Nov. 1, 2026
What the charges mean under Ohio law
Aggravated robbery is defined in Ohio Revised Code section 2911.01 and is always a felony of the first degree in Ohio — the most serious felony class short of homicide offences. A conviction carries a prison term in which the judge selects a minimum of 3 to 11 years; under Ohio's Reagan Tokes indefinite-sentencing law for first-degree felonies, the maximum term is set at the minimum plus 50 percent, so the longest possible sentence reaches 16 and a half years, and a fine of up to $20,000 can also be imposed. Kelley's charge is complicity to aggravated robbery: in plain terms, prosecutors allege he aided or took part in a robbery carried out with the others, rather than the charge requiring him personally to have held a knife. Which role each person is alleged to have played will be set out as the cases move through court.
The teenagers' cases follow a different track. Juveniles charged in Ohio are handled in juvenile court — for Wood County detainees, the Wood County Juvenile Court — in proceedings that are separate from adult court and in which the young people are not publicly identified. Their detention at the Wood County Juvenile Detention Center means a juvenile judge, not the adult system, will make the first decisions about whether they remain detained and how their cases proceed. No court dates for any of the three had been announced by Sunday afternoon.
Source: The Fostoria Free Press, Nov. 1, 2026 (detention and charges as released by Findlay police)
As of Sunday afternoon, the Findlay Police Department had not said whether the victim was hurt, how the suspects and the victim may have known each other, or when the three will appear in court. Police described the case as developing and said the story would be updated if more information is released. Anyone with information can contact the Findlay Police Department.
Why a 1 a.m. park robbery lands hard in Findlay
Findlay is a city of about 40,000 people in northwest Ohio and the county seat of Hancock County — a regional centre for manufacturing, logistics and trucking along Interstate 75, where many residents, including shift workers crossing the city at night, use the parks and streets in the small hours. A knife-point robbery in a public park at 1:16 a.m., followed by a tactical-team search warrant at a nearby home, is the kind of incident that travels fast in a city this size, and it is why the details police have released — three arrests within hours, most of the property recovered — matter to residents who live around Rawson Park and along Shinkle Street.
What happens next
Next comes court. Kelley, held at the Hancock County Justice Center, is expected to make a first court appearance in Hancock County, where a judge will address bond; first-degree felony cases in Ohio are then presented to a grand jury, which decides whether to hand up a formal indictment. The two teenagers will face their first hearings in juvenile court in Wood County. Detectives are still working the case — police have not announced whether the victim was injured, whether everyone involved has been identified, or whether more charges are possible — and the department says more information will be released as it becomes available. Readers in Findlay should expect the next concrete facts to come from the first court filings, not from social media.