Municipal

LISBON — In Columbiana County Municipal Court, a pretrial was set March 30 for Caleb Austin Hoggard, 23, St. Clair Avenue, East Liverpool, charged with assault and aggravated menacing for allegedly punching another man in the face and brandishing a knife on Jan. 19 in East Liverpool.

A pretrial was set April 1 for Shawn Robert Watson, 25, Dogwood Circle, New Waterford, charged with aggravated menacing, endangering children, failure to stop after an accident and reasonable control. After an alleged physical dispute on March 13 in New Waterford, a woman said she was going to call the police and Watson said if she did, then stopped talking and made a slicing motion with his hand across his throat. At the time he had a 9mm pistol in his hand in a menacing fashion, an affidavit said.

A pretrial was set May 19 for Dominic S. Pagani, 52, East Fifth Street, Salem, charged with domestic violence for allegedly threatening to harm a woman by punching her in the face and making her believe he was going to cause physical harm on March 14 in Salem.

A pretrial was set April 1 for Romellow Marquice McKnight, 30, Youngstown, charged with aggravated menacing and two counts of violation of a protection order. McKnight was accused of threatening to physically harm a woman on Sept. 15, 2025 in East Liverpool and for messaging a protected person on Oct. 28, 2025. He also messaged a protected person on Feb. 17 in East Liverpool.

A pretrial was set May 26 for Morgan A. Cameron, 21, Westville Lake, Beloit, charged with assault for allegedly throwing a can of root beer at a man from a moving vehicle, striking him under the groin on March 2 in Hanover Township. He’s also facing a pretrial May 26 for speeding.

A pretrial was set May 27 for Harry William Clausen, 55, Ashtabula, charged with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools for allegedly responding to an undercover ad on a known prostitution website and arranging for sexual activity with a woman in exchange for $140, then traveling to East Palestine on March 15 for the meeting with the phone used to make the arrangements in his possession.

A pretrial was set June 10 for David Alan Negrin, 41, Slippery Rock, Pa., charged with engaging in prostitution, possessing criminal tools and drug paraphernalia for allegedly responding to an undercover ad on a known prostitution website and arranging for sexual activity with a woman in exchange for money, then traveling to East Palestine on March 15 for the meeting with the phone used to make the arrangements in his possession, along with two white baggies with suspected cocaine and an unidentified substance and a spoon used in the commission of scooping out the narcotics.

A pretrial was set May 20 for Alexander Joseph Paz, 38, Morgantown, W.Va., charged with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools for allegedly responding to an undercover ad on a known prostitution website and arranging for sexual activity with a woman in exchange for money, then traveling to East Palestine on March 15 for the meeting with the phone used to make the arrangements in his possession.

A pretrial was set June 2 for Jacob D. Simms, 35, Bell School Road, East Liverpool, charged with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools for allegedly responding to an undercover ad on a known prostitution website and arranging for sexual activity with a woman in exchange for $80, then traveling to East Palestine on March 13 for the meeting with the phone used to make the arrangements in his possession.

Dalton Mitchelle Freeman, 23, North Shady Lane, East Liverpool, was fined $150 for disorderly conduct amended from domestic violence. He was accused of putting a woman in a bear hug and squeezing her while yelling at her and knocking a child off of a chair on Dec. 23, 2025 in East Liverpool.

Russell James Costello, 54, Smithfield, Pa. was fined $750 and given a suspended 180-day jail term for two counts of possessing criminal tools, with one amended from engaging in prostitution. He was ordered to complete 20 hours community service and a prostitution prevention course. Costello was accused of responding to an undercover ad on a known prostitution website and arranging for sexual activity with women in exchange for $150 and purchasing $50 worth of cocaine for them, then arriving in East Palestine on Feb. 21, 2025 for the meeting, with the phone used to make the arrangements in his possession.

Ryan Dickey, 38, Metz Road, New Waterford, was fined $700 and given a 90-day suspended jail term for menacing and obstructing official business. He was ordered to complete 20 hours community service. In Columbiana on Dec. 15, 2025, he threatened police officers while a passenger in a vehicle and exited the vehicle aggressively, disobeying orders from officers.

Taylor M. Merriman, 31, Newell, was fined $150 and given a suspended 30-day jail term for menacing amended from menacing by stalking. Merriman was ordered to complete 20 hours community service and to have no contact with the victim. On Oct. 6, 2025, Merriman told a woman she was going to kick her in the leg and make her fall in East Liverpool.

Tyler Scott Keys, 23, Francis Drive, Wellsville, was fined $150 and sentenced to 60 days in jail, with 55 days suspended, leaving five days to serve in jail for public indecency. He was ordered to complete 80 hours community service and to have no contact with the victim. Keys exposed his private parts and was satisfying himself while in a vehicle at the BP gas station in St. Clair Township on Sept. 17, 2025.

Court News

LISBON –A man facing multiple felony counts for a 2025 incidents involving a Jeep and a high speed chase in June and an assault in April was sentenced to a total of five years in prison.

James D. Laughlin, 34, state Route 518, Lisbon, appeared for sentencing recently in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.

He was sentenced to at least three years to four and a half years in prison for felonious assault, a second-degree felony and an additional 18 months for failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, a third-degree felony. He was sentenced to 180 days in the county jail for endangering children, a misdemeanor, but the term was ordered served at the same time as the other two charges. He received credit for 246 days in jail. Charges of felonious assault, two counts vehicular assault an domestic violence were dismissed.

He received an additional six months in prison for a separate assault charge, a fifth-degree felony, bringing the total prison time to six months.

The incidents began when Laughlin allegedly became aggressive with a woman at the Rogers Food and Fuel, Depot Street, Rogers, on June 29, 2025 so she ran to a friend who was driving a Jeep with other people inside. Laughlin then jumped in the van they were driving, with the woman’s unrestrained 2-year-old child inside, and intentionally rammed the Jeep with the van, then fled the area with the child still inside. Laughlin allegedly fled at a high rate of speed when an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper initiated a traffic stop in Madison Township, then Laughlin drove into a yard, left the vehicle and fled on foot into a wooded lot. The other incident occurred April 23, 2025 when he caused harm to a person.

Also in Common Pleas:

— Douglas C. Toothman, 48, East Fourth Street, East Liverpool, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree felony domestic violence, with sentencing set for April 27. He was accused of hitting a woman in her face and head area several times in East Liverpool on Oct. 18, 2025. The affidavit said the victim was pregnant.

— Nicholas L. Weyand, 37, Dewey Avenue, East Liverpool, pleaded guilty to illegal conveyance of drugs of abuse onto the grounds of a specified governmental facility, a third-degree felony, and possession of a fentanyl-related compound, a fifth-degree felony, with sentencing set for May 18. Weyand was accused of possessing fentanyl and trying to take drugs into a detention facility on May 27, 2024.

— Megan N. Stofen, 31, Bloomfield Avenue, East Liverpool, pleaded guilty to aggravated possession of drugs, a third-degree felony lesser-included offense from the original second-degree felony, and was sentenced to serve a term at the Eastern Ohio Correction Center until the program is successfully completed and then placed in drug court for a period not to exceed five years. She was given a mandatory fine of $5,000. She received credit for four days served in jail. A charge of aggravated trafficking in drugs, a second-degree felony, was dismissed. She possessed methamphetamine on July 26, 2024.