Staff Report

YOUNGSTOWN- The trial of a Green Township man charged in the alleged rape of a minor has been delayed after the victim died in a house fire in Youngstown early Monday morning.

According to news partner WKBN, Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McLaughlin asked for the trial of Robert Seman Jr., 46, 6468 Calla Road, Canfield, to be delayed. Prosecutors believe that Seman raped the 10-year-old girl, who was one of three people who died in the fire. Seman’s trial on four felony counts each of rape and gross sexual imposition was scheduled to begin Monday at 8:30 a.m.

Seman was arrested by Goshen police in March 2014 after turning himself in on a warrant issued after the girl’s mother reported that the girl had alleged Seman of engaging in sexual conduct with her for several years. He was indicted on the charges last April.

WKBN reported that McLaughlin also said the Youngstown Police Department believes Seman tried to bribe a potential witness in the case and she called Seman a “danger to the public.” Judge Maureen Sweeney revoked Seman’s bond and granted the request for the delay.

Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene told WKBN that Seman will be placed in a protective custody area.

The U.S. Marshal’s Service located the mother and brought her to the Youngstown Police Department for an interview Monday afternoon. Prosecutors said they had been looking for the girl’s mom for some time in advance of Seman’s trial but had been unable to locate her. Authorities have not charged the mother in connection with either the girl’s rape or Monday’s fire and have not said that she is a suspect in either incident.

Authorities said that they found the girl’s mom at a Canfield home listed in court records as Seman’s house arrest address. Those same authorities told WKBN that they checked at that house earlier Monday and did not find the woman.

The girl was a fourth-grade student at South Range Elementary and had been a student there since kindergarten, according to school Principal Steve Matos. School administrators provided grief counselors for students Monday and will make those counselors available at the district’s K-12 campus starting at 7 a.m. today, according to the release.

WKBN reported firefighters arrived at a house at 3631 Powers Way on Youngstown’s south side around 3 a.m. Monday after neighbors heard an explosion and called 911.

The windows of the house were shattered, but firefighters were not sure if an explosion occurred. Firefighters at the scene said they believe the fire started in the basement but were not sure of the cause of the fire.

Firefighters searched the house and have confirmed that three people died in the fire. Prosecutors confirmed in court that the three people were the 10-year-old girl believed to be the rape victim and her grandparents, who were hearing impaired.

The 10-year-old girl was identified through forensic dentistry. She is not being named because she was an alleged sexual assault victim. The grandparents have been identified as William E. Schmidt, 63, and Judy Schmidt, 61.