Insurance company sues teen who trashed church

LISBON - The insurance carrier for a Leetonia church damaged by vandals in February 2008 filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the adult teen imprisoned for the crime.

Cincinnati Insurance named Jordan Bell as the defendant in the complaint aimed at recouping money paid out to repair the damages, asking for a judgment of $54,872 to cover the payout.

Bell, 19, who lived in Leetonia at the time of the incident, remains housed in the Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield where he's serving a four-year prison term for an unrelated burglary and theft in Salem last year, along with the sentence for vandalism and breaking and entering for the incident at St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church.

According to the lawsuit, Bell broke into the church at 29 Spruce St., Leetonia on Feb. 26, 2008 and negligently and intentionally caused excessive damage, with the insurance company paying $64,872 on behalf of the church's policy.

The lawsuit said the insurance company already collected $10,000 against the claim, reducing the damages demanded from Bell to $54,872.

The church pastor discovered the damage after spotting some broken windows outside. Inside, multiple windows and mirrors had been broken, a pew had been thrown from a balcony and other furniture tossed around. A computer had also been damaged.

The lawsuit case has been assigned to Judge David Tobin of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.

A recent request for judicial release filed by Bell was denied on May 29 by Tobin, the judge who sent him to prison last fall.

Bell was sentenced in November 2008 to four years for the burglary, a second-degree felony, and theft, a fourth-degree felony, for stealing an ATV from a Salem property in March 2008, documents said. An 18-month sentence was issued for the church incident, for the felony charges of breaking and entering and vandalism, but all the terms were ordered served at the same time.

He's scheduled for release sometime in 2012.

Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net