Common Pleas New Cases

County Treasurer, Lisbon, vs. Valerie Sharp, Lodge Road, Leetonia, et al.; delinquent property tax foreclosure sought for Lodge Road, Leetonia property.

County Treasurer, Lisbon, vs. Joseph Yarzebinski, Wampum, Pa., et al.; delinquent property tax foreclosure sought for Dyke Road, Negley property.

JPMorgan Chase Bank, Dublin, vs. Keri Steele, Buck Road, Beloit; collection sought of alleged $27,169 debt.

TH MSR Holdings LLC, Charlotte, N.C., vs. Dey-Lor-Gyva Montgomery, Somer Street, Leetonia, et al.; mortgage foreclosure sought for Somer Street, Leetonia property.

Loan Asset Issuer LLC Series, Cincinnati, vs. Richard Wright, Alderlick Road, Salineville; collection sought of alleged $27,296 debt.

Docket Entries

PHH Mortgage Corporation vs. Jeannette Philo, also known as Jeannette Carver, et al.; mortgage foreclosure ordered for U.S. Route 30, Minerva property.

County Treasurer vs. Michael Shaw, et al.; delinquent property taxes paid, case dismissed.

County Treasurer vs. David Ruwe, et al.; payment plan entered, case stayed, taxes for one parcel paid, with that parcel dismissed from complaint.

County Treasurer vs. John C. Beary; delinquent property tax foreclosure ordered for Fairview Avenue, Columbiana property.

County Treasurer vs. Twyla McElhaney; delinquent property tax foreclosure ordered for Ridge Avenue, Wellsville property.

County Treasurer vs. unknown heirs, etc. of Kenneth Bigley Jr., et al.; delinquent property tax foreclosure ordered for state Route 154, Negley property.

County Treasurer vs. Duane Martin, et al.; delinquent property tax foreclosure ordered for Pope Street, East Liverpool property.

Court News

LISBON — A New Waterford man accused of possessing child pornography was sentenced to 108 months in prison, or a total of nine years, for 18 counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person, a fourth-degree felony.

Corey Andrew Cantwell, 26, Creek Road, appeared for sentencing Monday in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court. He received six months for each charge, with all the charges to be served consecutively or one after another. As part of the plea deal he entered in the spring, seven additional counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person will be dismissed.

He received credit for 487 days served in jail and was designated a Tier II sex offender required to register his address with the sheriff’s office every 180 days for 25 years after his release from prison.

Cantwell was indicted last year for possessing numerous images of child sexual assault material on a cell phone on March 18, 2024, according to an affidavit filed in county Municipal Court. He was in possession of the phone March 10, 2024 during an incident in East Palestine. Police executed a search warrant to search the phone later and found the images.

Also in Common Pleas Court:

— Andrew Hunley, 49, Avondale Street, East Liverpool, was sentenced to nine months in prison after pleading guilty to charges from two separate indictments, including two counts of breaking and entering, a fifth-degree felony. He received credit for 159 days already served in jail. Charges of complicity in the commission of an offense, a fifth-degree felony, and misdemeanor possessing drug abuse instruments were dismissed. On Oct. 24, 2024, he was accused of trespassing in an unoccupied structure and aiding others in the theft of merchandise totaling $1,365. On Oct. 30, 2024, he was accused of entering another unoccupied residence.

— James Howell Jr., 60, Ohio Avenue, East Liverpool, was placed on a treatment plan for three years after pleading guilty to charges from two separate indictments, including fifth-degree felonies of aggravated possession of drugs and possession of cocaine and misdemeanor illegal use or possession of drug paraphernalia. He was to be evaluated for placement at the Eastern Ohio Correction Center. He possessed cocaine and drug paraphernalia on April 30, 2024 and methamphetamine on July 6, 2024.

— Michael Beaver, 37, Opal Drive, Wellsville, pleaded guilty to fifth-degree felony possession of cocaine for possessing cocaine on March 10, 2024. Sentencing was set for Oct. 6.

— Chad Lang Jr., 31, Malvern, pleaded guilty to aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, for possessing methamphetamine on June 11, 2024. Sentencing was set for Oct. 6.

— Charlene Sias, 48, Pancake Clarkson Road, Negley, pleaded guilty to possession of a fentanyl-related compound, a fifth-degree felony, for possessing fentanyl on June 3, 2023. Sentencing was set for Oct. 17.

— A charge of failure to yield from a private drive against Jay Frantz, 36, Oakland Avenue, East Liverpool, was sent back to county Municipal Court. Frantz was recently indicted by the county grand jury for driving under suspension and two counts of fourth-degree felony failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer for an incident April 19, 2025.

Municipal

LISBON — A man previously convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 1999 for the death of his wife and felony domestic violence in 2019 will face a pretrial Aug. 11 for a new domestic violence charge.

Homer E. Williams, 65, First Avenue, East Liverpool, was arraigned Tuesday in Columbiana County Municipal Court for misdemeanor domestic violence for allegedly threatening a woman with physical harm on July 28 in East Liverpool. According to a police affidavit, police responded to the First Avenue residence after the victim’s daughter reported she was on the phone with her mother and allegedly heard the defendant say he was going to knock her mother’s eyes out of her head.

The affidavit said when police made contact, Williams said nothing was going on at all, while the victim reported they had gotten into an argument and he said “he has killed her before (prior domestic violence) and he was not afraid of prison.” She was in fear of him.

His bond was set at $50,000 cash or surety.

Williams had been charged with aggravated murder for the Dec. 5, 1998 death of Angela Williams, but entered a guilty plea in 1999 to charges of involuntary manslaughter and intimidation of a victim or witness in a criminal case. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison. In 2019, he was sentenced to 40 months in prison, which is equal to three years four months, for felony domestic violence. The victim from that case is the same as the victim in the new case.

Also in county Municipal Court, a case against William Kiehl, 67, West Spruce Street, Lisbon, was bound over to the county grand jury for second-degree felony pandering obscenity involving a minor and fifth-degree felony illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material. According to an affidavit by an agent with the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force, Kiehl allegedly downloaded one image of what appeared to be child sexual assault material on April 10, 2024 and when interviewed on July 18, 2025, admitted to uploading the image and that he had obtained other images and child sexual assault material. On July 18, 2025, the task force executed a search warrant at his Lisbon residence and found images stored on a computer which depicted minors in a state of nudity.

Sheri Hartley, 55, Fairfield Avenue, Columbiana, was fined $200 and sentenced to 30 days in jail, with 27 days suspended and credit for three days served, for disorderly conduct amended from domestic violence. She was ordered to complete 20 hours community service. Hartley was accused of throwing a knife and a set of car keys towards another woman, which missed her, but landed on the floor near her during an argument on May 4 in Columbiana.

A pretrial was set Aug. 11 for Gregg Robinson, 50, Scotts Mill Road, Rogers, charged with domestic violence for allegedly striking another man in the head with a flashlight, pushing him down and striking him with his fists.

A pretrial was set Sept. 16 for Rebecca Ann Meredith, 37, Sunrise Drive, Lisbon, charged with interference with custody for allegedly taking two children from their mother in East Palestine without permission to take them on June 1.

Daner Adkins Jr., 83, Penn Avenue Extension, East Liverpool, was fined $250 for a criminal mischief for a case from 2020 for throwing a large rock on the hood and windshield of a 2019 Dodge Ram truck belonging to another man on July 25, 2020 in East Liverpool.

Chad Wright, 42, Jackman Street, East Liverpool, was fined $500 each for four counts of failure to file income tax, with all of the fines suspended on the condition that he file and pay his taxes as due and comply with the payment plan. He failed to file East Liverpool city income tax returns from 2020 through 2023.

A pretrial was set Sept. 23 for Clayton Talbert, 30, Thomas Drive, Wellsville, charged with speeding.

A pretrial was set Oct. 14 for Amanda Kiger, 51, Westfield Road, East Liverpool, charged with speeding and two counts of driving under suspension.

A pretrial was set Oct. 14 for Adam Pitts, 41, McKinley Street, Salineville, charged with parking on wrong side of roadway.

Patrick Duffield, 22, Chester, W.Va., was fined $130 for no license and no seat belt.

Joleen Bunner, 47, High Street, Leetonia, was fined $150 for wrongful entrustment.

Kevin Everson, 53, High Street, Leetonia, was fined $150 for driving under suspension and a stop sign violation.

William Wildman, 51, East Fifth Street, Salem, was fined $150 for driving under suspension.