Staff photo / Ed Runyan Caleb Vancampen is shown in Youngstown Municipal Court on Thursday where Judge Renee DiSalvo ruled that he is not competent to stand trial and ordered him sent to a mental health facility to receive treatment and “restoration” to competency.

YOUNGSTOWN — Judge Renee DiSalvo of Youngstown Municipal Court ordered Caleb Vancampen, 20, to be taken to Heartland Behavioral Healthcare Center in Massillon to receive mental health treatment.

After that, he can return to face charges, including a felony vandalism charge that accuses him of destroying 16 statues outside of the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel church, plus charges of assaulting a police officer and stealing from cars around that same time.

He was captured on surveillance video at the church destroying the statues and dancing around.

DiSalvo’s ruling is the result of an evaluation that determined that Vancampen is not competent to stand trial on his charges. The judge issued the ruling during a hearing Thursday in which she and the attorneys in the case reviewed a mental health report from a professional at the Forensic Psychiatric Center of Northeast Ohio in Austintown.

Vancampen’s two attorneys and an assistant law director agreed with the findings and recommendations from the psychiatric center, avoiding the need for a hearing where evidence would be heard on whether to follow the recommendations and then a ruling from the judge.

Vancampen has two attorneys because his three charges came at three different times. Attorney David Gerchak, who is handling Vancampen’s felony vandalism charge, sought the competency evaluation.

Sending Vancampen to Heartland will delay any more proceedings in municipal court, such as a preliminary hearing, where a determination is made of whether a felony charge should be bound over to a county grand jury.

During the hearing, the judge asked Vancampen, who was wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, if he understood that his attorneys had “stipulated” to the findings in the forensic center’s psychological report.

“I would like for you to define stipulation before I can understand that,” he said respectfully.

She explained that it meant his attorneys and assistant Youngstown Law Director Kathy Thompson agreed with its recommendation that treatment “is probably the best thing for you.”

“What is the forensic center?” he asked.

“Those are the individuals who spoke with you at the jail,” she said.

He said he recalled being interviewed at the jail shortly after he was arrested in February.

“Do you understand now?” the judge asked.

“Yes ma’am,” he said.

The judge told him the evaluation did not determine that Vancampen did not understand the charges against him, only that “they believe your ability to help in your defense was diminished,” she said.

“That’s very important because you have a right to a trial. You have to be able to assist in your defense,” she said. At Heartland, “they are going to do what they need to do to rehabilitate you to get you to the point where you can assist in the defense of your case.

“Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

erunyan@vindy.com