Common Pleas

New Cases

County Treasurer, Lisbon, vs. Derek Cooper, Rochester Road, East Rochester, et al.; delinquent property tax foreclosure sought for Rochester Road, East Rochester property.

County Treasurer, Lisbon, vs. Seth Meek, West Main Street, New Waterford, et al.; delinquent property tax foreclosure sought for West Main Street, New Waterford property.

Kari Miller, Southeast Boulevard, Salem, and Derek Miller, Maple Street, Salem; dissolution sought.

Jonathan Ford, King Road, Salem, vs. Allscape Design, North Sumner Street, East Palestine, and Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, Columbus; refiled appeal of claim denial.

Lionel Crissman, Canfield, vs. Ricoh USA, Inc., Parsippany, N.J. and Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, Columbus; appeal of claim denial for additional conditions.

Docket Entries

County Treasurer vs. Norman D. Smith, et al.; delinquent property taxes paid, case dismissed.

Court News

LISBON — An East Liverpool man serving at least eight years in prison for a Medina County case entered guilty pleas to drug charges in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.

Sean McCarthy, 28, Birch Avenue, pleaded guilty to aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, and illegal conveyance of drugs of abuse onto the grounds of a specified governmental facility, a third-degree felony. Charges of possession of heroin and possession of fentanyl-related compound were dismissed.

McCarthy possessed methamphetamine on May 30, 2023 and tried to bring drugs onto the grounds of a detention facility on Oct. 19, 2022. He was sentenced to six months for the possession charge and 24 months for the illegal conveyance, but the terms were ordered served at the same time with each other and at the same time as the Medina County sentence.

The charges in Medina County included aggravated robbery, kidnapping and safecracking, with a sentence of three years for a gun and an additional five to seven and a half years for the robbery.

A judge recently denied a handwritten motion to dismiss filed by a Salem man accused of punching a woman in the face with brass knuckles.

Robert Kastanek, 40, currently in the Mahoning County Jail in Youngstown, whose last known address was North Madison Avenue, Salem, filed the motion on his own and mailed it to Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam.

Washam noted that Kastanek is represented by legal counsel in this case, writing that the court has no obligation to consider a pro se motion filed by a defendant who is represented by counsel.

“That practice is considered hybrid representation and is disallowed by law,” Washam wrote.

Kastanek was indicted in November for two counts of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, for allegedly punching the woman in the face multiple times, using brass knuckles, and stomping on her ribs while she was on the ground on Sept. 18 in Salem.

A status hearing remains set for April 3, with a jury trial set for April 14 before Washam.

In his motion, Kastanek listed several reasons the case should be dismissed, claiming he had an eyewitness to the alleged event, there were too many inconsistencies in the defense discovery packet, a claim that the alleged victim was looking to gain lesser sanctions in a criminal case pending against her and that the indictment was past the timeline guidelines for serving the indictment.

Also in Common Pleas Court:

— William Keyes Jr., 47, Claibourne Street, East Liverpool, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for possession of a deadly weapon while under detention, a fourth-degree felony lesser offense from the original third-degree felony charge. He received credit for 19 days served. According to the indictment, Keyes possessed a deadly weapon described as a homemade knife (shank) while under detention on July 11, 2024 at the county jail where he had been awaiting trial for a felonious assault charge, a second-degree felony. The sentence for the deadly weapon charge was ordered served at the same time as the indefinite term of two to three years in prison for felonious assault. He had been given credit for 302 days already served in jail. Keyes knowingly caused serious physical harm to a victim on July 15, 2023.

— Bud N. Hull, 45, West Ninth Street, East Liverpool, was sentenced to nine months in prison after pleading guilty to fourth-degree felony assault. Misdemeanors of obstructing official business and menacing were being dismissed. Hull had been accused of threatening staff at Carriage Hill apartments in St. Clair Township with a handheld taser, then fleeing the scene on foot on Dec. 11, 2024. Police found him and he again fled before being taken into custody. Once at the jail, he was very uncooperative and kicked the police detective who was standing behind him in the leg.

— Megan D. Behnke, 36, last known address Newell, W.Va., pleaded guilty to charges in three separate indictments, with sentencing set for May 2. Charges in the plea included third-degree felony escape and fifth-degree felonies of possession of fentanyl-related compound, possession of heroin and aggravated possession of drugs. Charges of possession of cocaine, possession of drugs, possession of fentanyl-related compound and vandalism were being dismissed. Behnke possessed fentanyl on Sept. 26, 2020 and methamphetamine and heroin on April 22, 2021. On Feb. 18, 2024, she was under detention at the Columbiana County jail for a drug charge and was taken to Salem Regional Medical Center where she removed the electronic ankle monitor on her ankle and left.

— Adam Wolfe, 48, North Royalton, pleaded guilty to aggravated possession of drugs, a third-degree felony, for possessing methamphetamine in an amount equal or greater than bulk but less than five times bulk on July 7, 2023. Sentencing was set for May 5.

— Thomas Peterson, 60, Medina, was sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, for possessing methamphetamine and THC on Aug. 25, 2023 and methamphetamine on Sept. 24, 2023.

— Marcus Ford, 27, West Main Street, Salineville, was placed under community control for three years after pleading guilty to aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, for possessing methamphetamine on June 20, 2024. He received credit for one day served in jail.

— Nicolas Ortiz, 25, Dover, was placed under community control for three years and ordered to serve 75 days in the county jail, with credit for two days served, leaving a balance of 73 days still to serve for fifth-degree felonies of importuning, aggravated possession of drugs, attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and possessing criminal tools. He was designated a Tier II sex offender requiring him to register his address with the sheriff’s office at the county where he resides. A fifth-degree felony charge of compelling prostitution was dismissed. The charge of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor was originally a third-degree felony. Ortiz was accused of requesting sexual conduct from an undercover agent posing online as a 15-year-old female in exchange for $100 and then driving to Salem on March 8, 2024 for the meeting.

— Cody Hostetter, 23, North Pleasant Drive, East Palestine, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, and misdemeanor illegal use or possession of drug paraphernalia, with sentencing set for March 28. Hostetter possessed methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia on June 24, 2023 and possessed methamphetamine on May 4, 2024.

— Jennifer Eskew, 38, Pritchard Avenue, Lisbon, pleaded guilty to aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, and was immediately sentenced to 98 days in the county jail, with credit for 39 days already served, leaving a balance of 59 days still to serve in jail. She possessed methamphetamine on March 22, 2023.