WARREN — A Youngstown man who led police on chase on a stolen motorcycle through Weathersfield last March received a four-year prison sentence Thursday after pleading to drug charges.

Rodney A. Smith Jr., 32, of South Evanston Avenue, pleaded on Dec. 9 before Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Ronald J. Rice to aggravated possession of drugs, possession of a fentanyl-related compound and possession of drugs. A charge of failure to comply with the order or signal of police officer was dismissed in exchange for the pleas of guilt to the other charges.

In a sentencing hearing Thursday, Rice called Smith “a career criminal” — noting from his background report that Smith had started dealing drugs at 18 and had been to prison four times previously.

“I apologize for my actions and accept responsibility for them,” Smith told the judge. “I’m ready to pay my debt.”

Rice said consecutive sentences are necessary because of his dangerous behavior on the motorcycle, which makes it necessary to protect the public.

Smith could face more years in prison for a parole violation, court officials said.

Prosecutors said Smith created a dangerous situation on March 26, 2021, by first dealing drugs from the stolen motorcycle and then running from police on it. A police report states the motorcycle was traveling 100 mph in a 35-mph zone and nearly hit another driver on Salt Springs Road, causing the other vehicle to go off the road.

An officer tried to pull over the motorcyclist just north of Four Mile Run Road, but the motorcycle pulled into a front yard to evade the traffic stop.

The chase continued on Salt Springs Road, before the motorcycle crashed in the 1000 block. The motorcyclist ran into a woods near a railroad track, and the report states Smith later was found by police lying down in the wooded area.

In late 2019, Smith was sentenced to seven months in prison by a Mahoning County judge on a drug possession conviction, records show.

In other cases involving drug abuse:

• Zachary A. Stutzman, 34, of Rome, Ohio, pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated possession of drugs and operating a vehicle under the influence and was given a six-month prison sentence Thursday by Rice. Stutzman also was fined $375 and had his driver’s license suspended for three years. Methamphetamine was found by the highway patrol when Stutzman was stopped on Jan. 8, 2021, prosecutors stated.

• William M. Smith Jr., 55, of Warren Avenue, Niles, pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated possession of drugs and will be sentenced by Rice after he undergoes a background report compiled by probation officers. Smith was arrested by Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers on Oct. 27, 2020, and found with some methamphetamine, prosecutors said.

• Teon Stennis, 29, of South Heights, Youngstown, was fined $750 and given two years probation after he was convicted of a misdemeanor attempted possession of a fentanyl-related compound charge. Stennis, who was jailed Thursday because of a warrant from Girard Municipal Court, was charged after a Nov. 1, 2020, traffic stop in Warren.

• Christopher M. Baker, 45, of Tod Avenue, Warren, received a five-year probation Thursday after being convicted of a charge of aggravated possession of drugs. His case stems from an Oct. 20, 2020, arrest by Warren police.

• Michael Washko, 36, of Cortland, pleaded guilty Wednesday before Judge W. Wyatt McKay to charges of possession of heroin and possession of a fentanyl-related compound. Washko, who is incarcerated at the Northeast Ohio Community Alternative Program, will be sentenced after he undergoes a background investigation by probation officers. Washko was stopped by Warren police May 10, 2021, at Elm Road and Gretchen Avenue NE because of a heavily-tinted window, prosecutors state. Police found a bindle that later tested to be a 0.28 gram heroin / fentanyl mixture.