Karen Longnecker given probation for her role in son’s menacing case
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YOUNGSTOWN -- The guilty plea that was expected from Jamie J. Longnecker, 47, on Wednesday in a 2021 menacing by stalking case did not happen because of problems his attorney was having communicating with him.
But his mother, Karen Longnecker, 76, entered a no contest plea to misdemeanor obstructing justice and a specification of forfeiture and got probation.
Judge Anthony D'Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court had a lot to sort out before the hearing was over -- what to do about the communication problem with Jamie Longnecker; what to do about a dispute an assistant prosecutor and Karen Longnecker's attorney were having; and carrying out Karen Longnecker's plea and sentencing.
In the end, he gave her a 180-day suspended sentence in the Mahoning County jail and ordered her to serve two years of probation.
Detective Patrick Mondora of the Mahoning County Sheriff's Office told the judge that Karen Longnecker lied to detectives regarding a computer that was used as part of Jamie Longnecker's illegal activities.
She was indicted on 49 counts of complicity, accused of aiding her son.
He was indicted on 50 counts of menacing by stalking and was later indicted on one new count of menacing by stalking and one misdemeanor of intimidation of a crime victim.
Prosecutors alleged the U.S. mail was used to send adult pornography to targeted individuals and menacing 30 people, including police officers investigating him.
Most of Jamie Longnecker's original charges are a lower-level felonies, each punishable by up to 18 months in prison.
The victims were family members of a young woman who worked with Jamie Longnecker at a restaurant where he worked as a dishwasher, and the pornography was intended to cause them distress, prosecutors said.
Jamie Longnecker was alleged to have become "obsessed with this young girl when she didn't befriend him," according to a prosecutor press release.
He was sent to prison for three years in 2012 after being convicted of a single count of menacing by stalking involving similar conduct, prosecutors said.
He was set for a plea hearing Wednesday, also before D'Apolito, but his attorney, Max Hiltner, told the judge he needed to have a sign language interpreter in the room with him and Jamie Longnecker in order to answer all of the questions about the written plea agreement in his case. The judge postponed the hearing until next week.
Next, however, Ken Cardinal, Mahoning County assistant prosecutor, told the judge he and attorney Bradley Barmen, who represents Karen Longnecker, had exchanged words before the hearing. He said Barmen made a disparaging remark about the lead investigator in the Longnecker case.
And Barmen said he made the remark after Cardinal called him a vulgar name.
But Barmen called the arguing "irrelevant," saying there was an agreement between Karen Longnecker and Nick Brevetta and that should be the agreement written into the formal record of the case.
"There has been a complete breakdown of communication in this case," the judge said, but he urged the parties to go forward with the plea agreement with the understanding that Karen Longnecker's punishment would be probation and no jail time.
She did did not say anything on her behalf before sentencing. The forfeiture specification states that she and her son will forfeit a laptop computer, printer and two cellphones that were used in the commission of an offense or offenses in the case.