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YOUNGSTOWN -- Ronald L. Handy III, 23, of Albert Drive in North Benton, was sentenced to four years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to four counts of felonious assault.
Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court approved the agreed-upon sentence.
Jennifer McLaughlin, assistant county prosecutor, said prosecutors reached a plea agreement with Handy in which he pleaded guilty to felonious assault -- even though Handy was indicted on three counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and five counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor.
McLaughlin said Handy and the victim were in a relationship at the time of the offenses, but she was a minor. Handy made videos and photos of the teen engaged in a sex act, which were sent to a family member of the victim, who called police.
Creating images and videos of a minor engaged in a sex act is illegal even if the minor consented to the sex and the making of the videos and images, McLaughlin said.
The Austintown Police Department investigated the case, but it's not known where in Mahoning County the offenses took place, McLaughlin said.
The felonious assault and pandering charges were all second-degree felonies that each carry a possible eight-year prison sentence.
But Handy had no previous sex-offense history, and there was no guarantee Handy would get any prison time on the pandering charges, McLaughlin said.
The important thing to the victim was that Handy receive prison time rather than have to register as a sex offender, which would have been required under the pandering charges, McLaughlin said.