Grand Jury issues 11 open, 34 secret indictments
LISBON — The Columbiana County Grand Jury issued indictments Wednesday against multiple defendants for felonious assault charges for alleged attacks using weapons, including a gun, knives, a baseball bat and even a vehicle.
The grand jury met for two days and issued 11 open indictments, with one person indicted twice, along with issuing 34 secret indictments. Secret indictments aren’t made public until the defendant is served with the paperwork.
Grant Michael Goodballet, 27, Youngstown, was charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and third-degree felony intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness in a criminal case for a knife attack Aug. 23 in East Liverpool and a threat against the victim on Sept. 21. An affidavit describing the August knife attack said the victim was standing near a burn barrel on Bank Street, East Liverpool when he heard his attacker coming toward him, turned around and saw him running toward him while swinging two knives. During the attack, the victim suffered a cut to his wrist and multiple knife wounds to his arms, neck, back and shoulder. In September, Goodballet allegedly called a woman and told her the victim needs to tell police that he lied and to drop the charges or he’ll kill him and his kids if he doesn’t.
Joah T. Leffler, 42, Sherwood Road, Wellsville, was charged with three counts of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, for two separate incidents in June in the Salineville area, along with two firearm specifications for allegedly using a gun for two of the charges. He was accused of allegedly pulling up in a vehicle near two victims who were standing outside on Salineville Road, brandishing a firearm and firing one round in the direction of one of the victims, then looking back and firing another round towards the other victim on June 26. On June 19 on West Main Street, he allegedly attacked another man when the man asked where his money was that Leffler allegedly owed him, cutting the victim’s right forearm, stabbing the victim in the right bicep and cutting his left thumb.
Johnathan David Messenger, 31, West Street, Salineville, was charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony, third-degree felony intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness in a criminal case and misdemeanor aggravated menacing for allegedly hitting a woman in the back of the head with a metal baseball bat at least three times and in her hand when she raised it to protect herself on Sept. 18 in Salineville, then threatening to kill her if she called police and making jokes about killing her while transporting her to the hospital.
Anthony Carosiello, 39, Sherwood Road, Wellsville, was charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony, for allegedly hitting another man with his 2001 Chevy Tahoe after an alleged road rage incident on June 3 in Wellsville. The victim said he was standing in the grass next to the exit ramp on state Route 7 when the defendant allegedly drove over the curb and hit him with the vehicle.
Other open indictment issued included:
— Jean C. Evens, also known as Evens Jean, 27, Irvington, N.J., fifth-degree felonies of two counts theft and misdemeanors of three counts criminal mischief for allegedly breaking into three vehicles in the parking lot of Reichard Industries LLC, Columbiana, and stealing a wallet from one of the vehicles on Sept. 29. Evens also allegedly stole a credit card and a debit card that day.
— Shane J. Linden, 46, Crestview Road, Leetonia, fourth-degree felony domestic violence for allegedly punching another man on Sept. 12 in Fairfield Township, with a previous domestic violence conviction on his record.
— Rachel R. Mazza, 36, West Fourth Street, East Liverpool, third-degree felony escape, for allegedly trying to escape from East Liverpool City Hospital when she was there as a Columbiana County jail inmate on Sept. 15. She was allegedly caught by a nurse in the hallway and taken back to the room by a deputy sheriff who handcuffed her wrist to the bed and double locked the cuffs. While the deputy stepped outside the door in the hallway to call a supervisor to report what happened, Mazza allegedly slipped her cuffs and ran down the hallway to the exit elevator, riding the elevator to the emergency room and escaping out the main doors. She was later caught Oct. 4 in Wellsville found hiding under a bed by a police K-9.
–Christopher Dennis Harrison, 41, Youngstown, promoting prostitution, a fourth-degree felony, for allegedly transporting a woman to East Palestine on July 27 so she could engage in sex for hire meeting.
— Kevin B. Clark, 60, West Martin Street, East Palestine, public indecency, a misdemeanor, for allegedly knowingly engaging in masturbation under circumstances in which a child was in his proximity on Aug. 29. The case will be returned back to county Municipal Court.
— Jonathon L. Lagone, 23, West Wilson Street, Salem, third-degree felony domestic violence for allegedly physically harming a woman on Sept. 20, with two or more prior convictions for domestic violence on his record.
