Youth leader in Boardman gets 4 years for sex crimes

YOUNGSTOWN -- Mark R. Cuprik II, 23, of Shepherds Road in Poland, was sentenced to four years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to seven sex offenses involving two girls who attended the church where he was youth leader, Victory Christian Center in Boardman.

Cuprik also will have to register as a sex offender every 90 days for life in the county where he lives.

The victims were each about 13 when they entered into sexual relationships with Cuprik at separate times. Both spoke at the hearing.

The crimes began in 2017, when the first victim was in her young teens and Cuprik was 18. In 2018, Cuprik moved on to the second victim when the first victim "got a boyfriend," said Caitlyn Andrews, assistant county prosecutor.

In 2017, Cuprik started chatting with the first of the two victims on the social-media site Snapchat. He sent her a nude photo of himself and asked her to send him one.

"He told her he would not promote her to worship teams at church unless she sent him photographs," Andrews told Judge R. Scott Krichbaum before the judge announced the sentence.

"This escalated over two years, and he sent her more explicit sexual photos and videos," Andrews said. "He directed her to send him photos and videos of a similar kind. He told her that he loved her and that he would

marry her one day. And he told her if she ever told anyone, he would blame her for what happened."

Andrews said Cuprik "told several people that he was engaging in this type of behavior, and it stopped in 2019, when the victim eventually got a boyfriend."

SECOND VICTIM

Cuprik then "moved on" in 2019 to the second girl, Andrews said. He started with touching her over her clothes while watching a movie with her. It progressed until in 2021 when she was a couple of years older, and he was 22.

He used an app on his phone that he said was "untraceable," Andrews said. "He used this app to groom her. He told her he wanted to marry her. He told her he was in love with her. He told her no one has ever made him feel this way. He said they could live their lives together. They would have children together," Andrews said.

"He said he got jealous and didn't want her talking to other boys. The two talked about sex in those messages," the prosecutor said.

"He said he worried about her being pregnant," Andrews continued. "He told her to make sure she deletes the messages. He told her to delete her accounts and create new accounts."

Andrews said they met in a car in a parking lot and engaged in sexual conduct. "He said he was nervous about her getting pregnant, and he said he would go to prison if she got pregnant, so he bought her the morning-after pill," Andrews said.

"He's the youth pastor at the church. Why wouldn't they trust him?" Andrews said. "He took advantage of the trust they had in him and used it to fulfill his deranged fantasies. He knew what he was doing … This man is a predator, and he is a danger to society."

Andrews asked that he get four years in prison.

TRUSTED HIM

"I trusted this man with everything I had," the older of the two victims told Krichbaum. "I believed everything he had told me."

The younger girl said Cuprik "used me" and convinced her that the things they were doing were OK "because he told me that the day I turned 18 he was going to pick me up, take me away from my family and start a new life."

The second time she and Cuprik met up in person in a Beaver Township park, a police chase ensued with the victim in Cuprik's car

"He tried covering his face so that they wouldn't know it was him, but it was too late," she said. He escaped the police and later dropped her off.

"Before taking me back, he made me delete absolutely everything on my phone that had to do with him and told me the story I would tell everyone," she said.

The incident led to interviews at the Akron Children's Hospital Child Advocacy Center and subpoenas and search warrants being issued for social media accounts, Beaver Township police stated in a report.

Before sentencing Cuprik, Krichbaum told the defendant that he believes several years in prison will be "punishment that is beyond the imagination of most people. Believe me, you will be severely punished in that way."

Cuprik pleaded guilty to sexual battery; two counts of pandering obscenities involving a minor; one count of importuning; two counts of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles; and one of misdemeanor sexual imposition.

Cuprik's attorney, Ron Yarwood told the judge that Cuprik had no other criminal record before these crimes and was not an ordained minister, though he was "in a leadership position."

Cuprik told Krichbaum -- sometimes tearfully -- that he had "lost so much" because of his actions.

"I'm fully responsible for my actions," Cuprik said.

erunyan@vindy.com