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Inmate with Hep C back in court for spitting on staff

Dillon T. Dellapenna, 21, Moore Street, East Liverpool, who is facing multiple charges for assaulting corrections officers, appeared before Judge C. Ashley Pike by video arraignment from the county jail on Thursday flanked by two county jail employees and wearing a face shield designed to keep him from further biting or spitting on jail employees. (Salem News photo by Deanne Johnson)

LISBON — Serial spitter Dillon T. Dellapenna was back in court Friday.

The 21-year-old Dellapenna, who has been charged multiple times with spitting on jail staff and related offenses, appeared in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court for a status hearing on two separate indictments. In the one indictment he is charged with assaulting a jail guard and harassment of jail staff with a bodily substance, and one count of assaulting jail staff in the other.

According to the one indictment, Dellapenna — who is infected with hepatitis C — bit a male county jail guard on the hand and kicked him in the groin on April 27. On the same day he kicked a female guard and also spit on her and a jail nurse.

In the other indictment, Dellapenna is charged with punching the assistant jail warden in the face while he was trying to break up a fight between Dellapenna and another inmate on June 26.

Last week, Dellapenna, who is from East Liverpool, was charged with punching a guard in the eye and spitting at him and biting another guard in the hand when he tried to intervene. This occurred on Sept. 14 at the jail.

He appeared in court shackled and wearing what appeared to be a surgical mask over his mouth, and a mesh netting over his head.

Dellapenna has a long list of charges pending and possible new indictments on the way, according to assistant county prosecutor Megan Bickerton. For that reason, she said Judge Scott Washam scheduled another hearing for 1 p.m. Oct. 5 to review all of the outstanding charges and potential charges facing Dellapenna in the hope the parties may be able to reach a plea deal to resolve them.

Following is a list of some of the other offenses Dellapenna faced this year:

–Aug. 18: He was sentenced to 75 more days in the county jail for breaking two jail sprinkler heads and a microwave oven at the jail and pulling down a shelf.

–July 21: An assault charge was dropped after the inmate Dellapenna was accused of beating was sentenced to five years in prison for rape.

–Feb. 28: He pleaded guilty to two counts of domestic violence for assaulting his grandparents, one count of harassment by bodily fluid for spitting on a jail guard and one count of assaulting another guard. Dellapenna was sentenced to probation, with the first six months to be served at the prison alternative facility in Wintersville.

Records show he was also charged with assaulting jail guards in 2015 and 2016 and a sheriff’s deputy in 2016.

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