Common Pleas

New Cases

John and Jonetta Haren, both Tower Road, Salem, vs. John Donaldson, Salem Alliance Road, Salem, and State Farm Mutual Insurance Company, Martins Ferry; damages sought for personal injury claim and underinsured/uninsured motorist claim from 2023 traffic crash.

Timothy and Colleen Murray, both Mercer, Pa., vs. Heritage Thermal Services Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., et al.; damages sought for alleged personal injury from 2023.

Docket Entries

Daniel Haught and Victoria Pierson; dissolution granted.

Steven Bosel and Heather Bosel; dissolution granted.

County Treasurer vs. Heather Houlette; payment plan entered, case stayed, taxes for two parcels paid, with those parcels dismissed from case.

County Treasurer vs. Christi Jo Morris, et al.; sheriff sale vacated, transfer of property declared void.

Velocity Investments LLC vs. Ashlie Gibson; case stayed due to bankruptcy filing.

Rocket Mortgage vs. Joseph Samek, et al.; case dismissed.

Lakeview Loan Servicing LLC vs. Aalison Panteleris, et al.; mortgage foreclosure ordered for Jennings Avenue, Salem property.

Court News

LISBON — An East Liverpool woman accused of allegedly abusing an infant last year was recently found competent to stand trial, but her defense attorney is seeking a second evaluation for competency and sanity at the time of the offense.

Melanie Leonard, 35, Starkey Lane, was indicted earlier this year with second-degree felony endangering children and two counts of third-degree felony endangering children for allegedly abusing an infant, resulting in serious physical harm to the child on Feb. 24, 2024 when the child was less than 2 months old.

During a recent hearing in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, Judge Scott Washam found that Leonard was competent based on a competency and sanity evaluation the court received. The judge wrote that the evaluator also concluded that she did not suffer from a serious mental defect or mental issue that prevented her from knowing the wrongfulness of her actions at the time of the offenses.

Defense attorney Chris Amato told the judge he would be requesting a second evaluation and recently filed the written request.

Washam noted that any second evaluation will be at the expense of the defendant since she has retained counsel. A status hearing remains set for Nov. 20.

Also in Common Pleas Court:

–Richard Braham, 27, West Park Avenue, was ordered evaluated by the Forensic Psychiatric Center of Northeast Ohio for competency and sanity at the time of the offense, with a status hearing set for Nov. 12. Braham was charged with one count of pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person, a fourth-degree felony, and four counts of illegal use of minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance, a fifth-degree felony for his alleged possession of the images on Nov. 10, 2023. His defense attorney filed the motion for the evaluation, which was granted by Washam.

— Fred Struble IV, 26, Chain School Road, East Palestine, was resentenced to 36 months or three years in prison for violating the terms of his probation in three separate cases. The charges included an amended charge of fourth-degree felony aggravated assault from a third-degree felony strangulation, misdemeanor domestic violence, third-degree felony failure to comply with an order or signal a police officer, misdemeanor unauthorized use of a vehicle and fifth-degree felony possession of fentanyl-related compound. Struble was accused of punching and scratching a woman in the face, pulling her across the floor and strangling her on Nov. 12, 2023 on Chain School Road, Unity Township. He was also accused of using a motorcycle without the owner’s consent and fleeing from police on June 1, 2023. The drug charge stemmed from possessing fentanyl on Dec. 10, 2022. He received credit for 164 days served in jail.

— Lonnie Cunningham, 32, Lincoln Avenue, East Liverpool, pleaded guilty to charges from two separate indictments, with sentencing set for Sept. 19. The charges included third-degree felony burglary, fourth-degree felony receiving stolen property and misdemeanor operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse or a combination of them-OVI. Charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing official business will be dismissed. Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers investigating a traffic crash involving a stolen vehicle on Dec. 7, 2024 in Yellow Creek Township learned that Cunningham was the alleged driver and brought him back to the scene, but he refused to identify himself. The vehicle he was driving, a 2016 Ford Escape, had been reported stolen. For the burglary charge, he was accused of trespassing in an occupied structure to commit theft on Nov. 22, 2024.

— Brandon Dunn, 40, Chester, W.Va., was sentenced to nine months in prison after pleading guilty to escape, a fifth-degree felony, and misdemeanor driving under suspension. He was also sentenced to seven months in prison for fifth-degree felony charges of aggravated possession of drugs and possession of a fentanyl-related compound. Both terms were to be served at the same time as a sentence out of West Virginia. The escape charge stemmed from an incident on July 28, 2024 when he took off a GPS unit and left Salem Regional Medical Center after being told by deputies that he would be charged if he left the hospital where he had been taken from the jail for chest pains. Hospital staff reported that he took off the GPS unit and left. The driving under suspension stemmed from a traffic stop on July 26, 2024. He possessed fentanyl and 6-MAM (defined as a metabolite of heroin) on Feb. 13, 2021.

— Abby Pierson, 31, Academy Street, Salineville, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree felony assault, fifth-degree felony possession of cocaine, and misdemeanors of criminal mischief and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse or a combination of them-OVI. Sentencing was set for Nov. 10. Charges of OVI, illegal use or possession of drug paraphernalia and driving under suspension. Pierson was accused of trying to bite several police officers and EMTs during an incident on Nov. 28, 2024 in Columbiana. She also possessed cocaine and tried to damage a Columbiana police cruiser.

— Charles Bosel Jr., 36, state Route 154, Lisbon, was ordered to participate in drug court for a period not to exceed five years after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated possession of drugs, one a third-degree felony and one a fifth-degree felony. He was accused of possessing methamphetamine on April 25, 2023 and one Sept. 2, 2024. The amount on Sept. 2, 2024 equaled or exceeded bulk but was less than five times bulk.

— Robert Farkas, 48, Youngstown, was sentenced to 250 days in the county jail, with 193 days suspended, leaving a balance of 57 days still to serve in jail for violating the terms of his probation for trespass in a habitation when a person is present or likely to be present, a fourth-degree felony, and two counts of aggravated possession of drugs, both fifth-degree felonies. The trespassing occurred on July 28, 2022. He possessed methamphetamine on May 27, 2021 and psilocyn on Sept. 24, 2021.

— Mark Douglas, 41, Henry Avenue, East Liverpool, was placed under community control and ordered to serve up to six months at the Eastern Ohio Correction Center in Wintersville after pleading guilty to domestic violence and strangulation, both fourth-degree felonies. A misdemeanor charge of domestic violence was dismissed. He was accused of assaulting and choking a woman on March 30 in East Liverpool.

— Sydney Panza, 27, Ellwood City, Pa., was placed under community control for three years and ordered to serve a term at the Eastern Ohio Correction Center for fourth-degree felony assault. Panza received credit for 79 days served in jail. Panza was accused of pushing a Salem police officer and kicking him in the back of the legs while at the department in Salem in the custody of Leetonia Police on June 26, 2024.

— Steven Faulkner, 40, Camelot Drive, Columbiana, was placed under community control for three years after pleading guilty to four counts of aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, for possessing methamphetamine and oxycodone on Dec. 14, 2023 and methamphetamine and hydrocodone on March 6, 2024. Another hearing was set Oct. 23 to determine whether the defendant will attend the Eastern Ohio Correction Center as a term of community control.

— Roger Wright, 44, Lincoln Avenue, East Liverpool, was placed under community control for four years after pleading guilty to two counts of nonsupport of dependents, a fifth-degree felony, for failing to pay support from Jan. 17, 2021 to Jan. 15, 2023. He received credit for 53 days served in jail.

— Curtis Townsend, 46, Springfield, was placed under community control for 12 months after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor criminal trespass for a 2014 case when he trespassed on an East Liverpool property on May 13, 2014. He was originally charged with breaking and entering, a fifth-degree felony.

— Aaron Porter, 39, New Cumberland, W.Va., was ordered to serve 60 days in the county jail, but received credit for 60 days already served in West Virginia, leaving zero time to serve for violating the terms of his intervention plan for three counts of aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, and one count of misdemeanor possession of drugs. His community control will continue until Sept. 5, 2026. Porter possessed methamphetamine, amphetamine, buprenorphine and lysergic acid diethylamide on July 15, 2023.

— Angela Martin, 46, McKee Road, Wellsville, was placed under community control for one year for illegal use of supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits or WIC program benefits, a third-degree felony. Restitution of $20,710 in the plea agreement was already paid in full. Martin was accused of illegally using the assistance from Sept. 1, 2020 to Feb. 28, 2023.