Common Pleas

New Cases

James Morgan, Maple Street, Minerva, vs. Kayla Morgan, North Canton; divorce sought.

Dennis Covert, state Route 164, Leetonia, and Shelly Covert, state Route 164, Leetonia; dissolution sought.

Alcon Tool Company, Akron, vs. Wyg Refractories, LLC, North James Street, East Palestine; collection sought of alleged $204,448 debt.

Marilyn Wartluft, South 15th Street, Sebring, and Donald Wartluft, South 15th Street, Sebring; dissolution sought.

Docket Entries

Huntington National Bank vs. Scott Greaves, individually and as executor of the estate of Barbara Greaves, et al.; mortgage foreclosure ordered for East North Avenue, East Palestine property.

North Gateway Tire, Inc. vs. Corey Allen Burt, et al.; North Gateway Tire entitled to charging order against Burt’s membership interests in Ohio Wheel Warehouse, LLC, et al. in amount of $57,435, with Ohio Wheel Warehouse, et al. ordered to pay plaintiff or court all monetary distributions to Burt up to $57,435.

Lakeview Loan Servicing LLC vs. Donald Lewis, et al.; mortgage foreclosure ordered for Canal Street, East Rochester property.

KeyBank, NA vs. Andrew McKarns, et al.; mortgage foreclosure ordered for Fink Road, Kensington property.

American Homeowner Preservation LLC vs. Jonathan Spiker, et al.; case reinstated to active docket.

JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. vs. William Barz; case stayed due to bankruptcy filing.

U.S. Bank National Association vs. Jami Dittmar; $3,433 judgment granted to plaintiff.

Grand Jury

LISBON — Michael Berry Jr., 42, New Castle, Pa., was served Thursday with a secret indictment issued by the Columbiana County Grand Jury for aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, for allegedly possessing methamphetamine on May 3, 2023.

Court News

LISBON — An East Liverpool man accused of stealing two barge propellers in 2023 was sentenced to 12 months in prison for grand theft, a fourth-degree felony.

Kevin Frazier, 43, Michigan Avenue, entered a guilty plea to the charge last month in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, with a charge of breaking and entering, a fifth-degree felony, dismissed. The propellers stolen on Nov. 14, 2023 were valued at $30,000 each.

Frazier received credit for 103 days served in jail.

He was also resentenced for a 2019 drug case for violating his probation, receiving eight-month terms in prison for possession of cocaine and possession of a fentanyl-related compound, both fifth-degree felonies. The terms were ordered served at the same time as the 12-month sentence for grand theft.

Frazier possessed fentanyl and less than 5 grams of cocaine on May 11, 2019.

— An East Palestine man was sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated possession of drugs and being sentenced in two other cases and resentenced for a probation violation.

Cody Hostetter, 23, North Pleasant Drive, appeared in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court recently regarding a drug indictment from 2025 and a few other cases from 2024. The fifth-degree felony aggravated possession of drugs charge stemmed from his possession of methamphetamine on April 30, 2024.

The seven-month sentences from the other cases were ordered served concurrently or at the same time as the 10-month term. He received credit for 181 days already served.

Two of the cases involved aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, for possessing methamphetamine on May 4, 2024, and fifth-degree felony aggravated possession of drugs and misdemeanor drug paraphernalia for possessing meth and drug paraphernalia on June 24, 2023.

In another 2024 case, he was sentenced to prison for violating his probation for misdemeanor drug paraphernalia and two counts of aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, for possessing methamphetamine on Sept. 1, 2023 and on June 24, 2023, along with paraphernalia on June 24, 2023.

— Kara Della Penna, 42, Clark Avenue, Wellsville, was ordered to serve up to six months at the Eastern Ohio Correction Center in Lisbon and was placed under community control for three years after pleading guilty to fifth-degree felonies of possession of fentanyl-related compound and two counts aggravated possession of drugs for possessing fentanyl, oxycodone and hydrocodone on Feb. 6, 2023.

— Dalton McKinnon, 23, Lacroft Avenue, East Liverpool, was ordered to serve 180 days in the county jail, with credit for 159 days already served, leaving a balance of 21 days still to serve for violating the terms of his intervention plan for breaking and entering, a fifth-degree felony. His intervention plan was dishonorably terminated. The breaking and entered stemmed from him breaking into a garage and attempting to take items on Jan. 29, 2024 in East Liverpool.

Also in Common Pleas Court:

— Courtney Orr, 34, state Route 45, Leetonia, was found competent March 31 after a psychiatric evaluation and then on April 2 pleaded guilty to charges from two separate indictments, including third-degree felony strangulation, misdemeanor domestic violence and fifth-degree felony unauthorized use of a vehicle. Sentencing was set April 25. Orr was accused of grabbing a female relative’s arms and shoulders and placing her hands around her throat and pushing her during an altercation April 3, 2024 in Salineville, causing the victim to have trouble breathing and to fear for her life and safety. The unauthorized use of a vehicle charge stemmed from Orr using a 2021 Jeep Gladiator without the permission of the owner from March 12, 2024 to March 13, 2024.

— Charles Noel, 62, Glenn Street, East Liverpool, pleaded guilty to attempted possession of cocaine, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to one day in jail, receiving credit for one day already served, leaving a balance of no days to serve. Noel was originally indicted for possession of cocaine, a fifth-degree felony, for possessing cocaine on Aug. 20, 2023.