Common Pleas

New Cases

County Treasurer, Lisbon, vs. Shawn Sanchez, Bloomfield Avenue, East Liverpool, et al.; delinquent property tax foreclosure sought for Wooster Avenue, East Liverpool property.

County Treasurer, Lisbon, vs. Sean Russell, St. Clair Avenue, East Liverpool, et al.; delinquent property tax foreclosure sought for St. Clair Avenue, East Liverpool property.

James Wittenauer II, Tanglewood Drive, Salem, and Erika Wittenauer, Youngstown; dissolution sought.

Jesse Scyoc, West Wilson Street, Salem, vs. David Scyoc, Grove City; divorce sought.

Docket Entries

Steve Johnson vs. Sarah Johnson; divorce granted.

Peter Mudrak, trustee of the Mudrak Revocable Living Trust, et al., vs. Quality Oil and Gas Corp., et al.; ruling in favor of plaintiffs, lease between William Zwick and Dolores Zwick and East Ohio Gas Company expired, null and void.

Marriage Licenses

Shayne Aday, 33, East Liverpool, pharmacy fulfillment technician, and Concetta Franczek, 32, East Liverpool, medical assistant.

Donald Riggs, 47, Salineville, self employed, and Christina Coil, 46, Salineville, caretaker.

William Van Nuys, 84, Steubenville, retired, and Bonnie Blystone, 75, Lisbon, retired.

Jonathan Cosma, 38, Salem, oil field production, and Teddi Ferguson, 36, Salem, military.

Eric Miller, 46, Salem, manager, and Jodie McLaughlin, 46, Salem, nurse.

Christopher Valentine, 29, East Liverpool, unemployed, and Destinee Beaver, 26, East Liverpool, housekeeper.

Aaron Shope, 47, East Palestine, transportation recovery management services, and Jessica Wheeler, 42, East Palestine, mental health worker/East Liverpool City Hospital.

Shawn Chambers, 49, East Liverpool, foreman, and Shataun Wooten, 35, East Liverpool, billing clerk.

Grand Jury

LISBON — A Columbiana man accused of possessing images of child pornography was served Sunday with a secret indictment for multiple felony charges.

Richard Braham, 26, West Park Avenue, was charged with one count of pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person, a fourth-degree felony, and four counts of illegal use of minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance, a fifth-degree felony. All the charges stem from his alleged possession of the images on Nov. 10, 2023.

Also served with a secret indictment was Joseph Pedro, 59, Maplewood Drive, Columbiana, possession of cocaine, a fifth-degree felony, for allegedly possessing cocaine on Jan. 5, 2024.

Court News

LISBON — Doreen Bellino, 48, Girard, was sentenced to 120 days in the Columbiana County jail after pleading guilty to aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, during a recent hearing in Common Pleas Court.

Bellino received credit for 47 days already served, leaving a remaining balance of 73 days still to serve in jail.

She possessed methamphetamine on Feb. 18, 2018.

Municipal

LISBON — In Columbiana County Municipal Court, a preliminary/pretrial hearing was set March 17 for John Wolfe Jr., 42, West Fourth Street, Salem, charged with third-degree felony strangulation and misdemeanors of assault and violation of a protection order for allegedly striking a woman in the face multiple times and hitting her head off of the bathroom door and also allegedly placing his forearm against her throat and attempting to strangle her on Oct. 18, 2024 in Salem. On Dec. 26, 2024, he allegedly made multiple attempts to contact a woman who has a protection order against him, via phone calls and voicemail messages.

Brittany Ruf, 31, West Main Street, New Waterford, was fined $250 and sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 179 days suspended and credit for one day served, for assault. She was ordered to complete 30 hours community service and to stay away from the victim. She was accused of punching another woman in the face on Dec. 29, 2024 in New Waterford after the other woman asked her to stop cursing and failed to leave Ruf’s property when asked to leave several times.

A pretrial was set June 2 for Patrick J. Geho, 54, Washington, Pa., charged with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools for allegedly responding to an undercover ad on a known prostitution website and arranging for sexual activity with females in exchange for $250, then traveling to East Palestine for the meeting on March 7 with the phone used to make the arrangements in his possession.

A sentencing hearing was set March 20 for Vincent Wilt, 34, Aten Avenue, Wellsville, who pleaded guilty to aggravated menacing and was ordered to stay away from the victim. Wilt threatened a man and said he was going to throw a brick through his window on March 9 in Wellsville.

A pretrial was set June 2 for Casey Huffman, 48, Sue Drive, Lisbon, charged with menacing after deputies were called to Center Township for a report of an intoxicated male, allegedly identified as Huffman, threatening and fighting neighbors on March 7.

A pretrial was set May 29 for Stepfahn Anthony, 39, charged with obstructing official business and disorderly conduct for allegedly lying about his name multiple times when East Palestine police made contact with him about an incident at Dollar General on North Market Street, East Palestine on March 8. He had allegedly been intoxicated and growled at store customers, making them feel unsafe before he left walking north.

Daniel Queen, 29, Thomas Drive, Wellsville, was fined $200 and sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 160 days suspended and credit for 18 days served, leaving a balance of two days still to serve for inducing panic. He was ordered to complete 40 hours community service. He was accused of running around with a knife in his hand, yelling at people that were not there at Sunrise Mobile Home Park in Wellsville on June 12, 2024. He claimed he had seven people trapped in his residence, but police found no one inside.

Steven Fisher, 56, Timberline Drive, Columbiana, was fined $1,425 and sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 173 days suspended, with credit for one day served along with six days credit for a driver intervention program, for operating a vehicle impaired, weapons while intoxicated, a stop sign violation, and attempted improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle. His driver’s license was suspended for one year. During a traffic stop on March 2 in Columbiana, Fisher had a loaded firearm in his possession while impaired.

Mark Stewart, 58, Carmel Achor Road, Rogers, was fined $250 for disorderly conduct amended from theft. He was ordered to make restitution. On Aug. 29, 2023, Stewart was paid $1,500 to do work at a residence on Tower Road in Butler Township, but never completed the work or returned the money.

Jarrett Shields, 24, Lisbon Street, East Liverpool, was fined $200 for disorderly conduct for fighting and continuing disruptive behavior after being told to stop on Jan. 19 in East Liverpool.

Joseph Rugar, 59, Cameron Road, Wellsville, was fined $300 and sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 90 days suspended, leaving a balance of 90 days still to serve in jail for telecommunications harassment and two counts of violation of a protection order. The sentence was ordered to be served consecutive or in addition to the 86 days he was already serving since February for violating a protection order. He was ordered to have no contact with the victim. The most recent charges stemmed from Rugar contacting a protected person with an unknown number to harass her on Feb. 16 in Columbiana County and also sending her a picture of his private parts on Feb. 11. He allegedly sent texts and pictures to the woman on two separate occasions. He also called the woman multiple times from the county jail on Jan. 26. The charge he had already been sentenced for involved Rugar messaging the protected person on Dec. 31, 2024 after being served with an active protection order on Dec. 28, 2024.

James Barshaw, 59, state Route 172, Kensington, was fined $400 and sentenced to 90 days in jail, with 89 days suspended and credit for one day served, for two counts of theft. He was ordered to have no contact with Dollar General or Save A Lot in Lisbon. Barshaw was accused of filling a freezer bag full of frozen items and leaving without paying at Save A Lot in Lisbon on Feb. 9, 2024. On Dec. 10, 2023, he allegedly took a basket of items from Dollar General in Lisbon without paying at the self checkout.

A pretrial was set May 19 for Diane Goodwin, 56, Northside Avenue, East Liverpool, charged with theft for allegedly failing to scan and pay for 10 items totaling $46 at the Calcutta Walmart on March 3.

A pretrial was set May 29 for Kirk Price, 56, Eighth Avenue, East Liverpool, charged with criminal mischief for allegedly stabbing the tire on a woman’s vehicle on Jan. 29 in East Liverpool.

Lillian Simms, 24, Prospect Street, Salem, was fined $400 and given a suspended 180-day jail term for possessing criminal tools and theft. She was ordered to complete 40 hours community service, a theft prevention class and to have no contact with the Calcutta Walmart. She was accused of failing to scan and pay for 85 items totaling $722 at the Calcutta Walmart and using her purse to conceal stolen items on Oct. 9, 2024.

Jonathan Gardner, 33, Duke Vodrey Road, East Liverpool, was fined $800 and sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 150 days suspended and credit for 10 days served, leaving a balance of 20 days still to serve for obstructing official business, leaving the scene, no valid license, reckless operation and endangering children. He was ordered to complete 30 hours community service. During a traffic stop on March 1 in East Liverpool, he couldn’t provide any personal information besides his name and police later identified him and learned he had two active warrants for his arrest from an incident in 2020 involving a vehicle/pedestrian accident which he allegedly fled from after allegedly hitting a pedestrian. A child was in the vehicle with him at the time and was left unattended when he fled.

Joseph DeSarro, 31, Duke Vodrey Road, East Liverpool, was fined $350 and sentenced to 10 days in jail for drug paraphernalia, driving under suspension and no turn signal. DeSarro possessed a tie-off baggy with unknown powder inside on the driver side floorboard where he was sitting during a traffic stop on Nov. 23, 2024 in St. Clair Township.

A pretrial was set May 6 for Natalie Granito, 43, Garfield Avenue, East Palestine, charged with OVI first offense.

A pretrial was set May 27 for Gonzalo Tenecela, 51, Youngstown, charged with speeding.

A pretrial was set June 2 for Taylor Stewart, 22, Georgetown Road, Salem, charged with driving under suspension.

A pretrial was set May 29 for Elliot Barwinski, 48, Youngstown, charged with driving under suspension and speeding.

Alee Keyes, 18, Seventh Avenue, East Liverpool, was fined $1,000 and sentenced to 90 days in jail, with 87 days suspended and credit for three days served in a driver intervention program for underage consumption and physical control amended from OVI. She was ordered to complete 25 hours community service.

Gregory Lindner, 63, Lyons Avenue, East Liverpool, was fined $925 and sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 177 days suspended and credit for three days served in a driver intervention program for OVI and lighted lights. Another OVI charge was dismissed. His driver’s license was suspended for one year, with driving privileges granted. He was ordered to complete 40 hours community service.

Nevaeha Markovich, 22, Logan Street, East Liverpool, was fined $130 for driving under suspension and expired tag.

Douglas Miller, 41, Georgetown Damascus Road, Beloit, was fined $100 for driving under suspension.

Joseph Gatelaro, 67, Brenda Lane, Columbiana, was fined $100 for stopped school bus.