YOUNGSTOWN — New safety opportunities for the potentially vulnerable are now available as the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office officially kicked off its new Special Victims Unit on Monday.

Following a news conference at Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, Prosecutor Gina DeGenova detailed that the new, vertical Special Victims Unit will allow for one prosecutor to handle each case from pre-indictment through sentencing.

“The other benefit of the Special Victims Unit is going to be our collaboration with community partners,” DeGenova said.

Some of the partnering organizations include Compass Family & Community Services, Animal Charity of Ohio, Direction Home of Eastern Ohio, Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities and more.

“They all provide services to the same population our unit is set to protect and to serve,” DeGenova added. “The collaboration will be a way for us to make sure that these victims get help as quickly as they need.”

Career prosecutor Jennifer McLaughlin Bonish is serving as chief of the SVU, due to her 18 years of experience as an attorney, in which she has prosecuted sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse cases in Mahoning County.

A Jan. 25 press release from DeGenova stated, “Chief Bonish is also passionate about animal welfare, recognizing that animals lack the ability to protect themselves from their abusers.”

Joining Bonish are Director of Programming Isabella Caruso, assistant prosecutors Kevin Day, Caitlyn Andrews, Katie Jones, Daniel Yozwiak and Chief of Criminal Ralph Rivera.

Cases the team will handle include sexual assaults; crimes against children, including endangering and pornography; human trafficking; crimes against individuals with developmental disabilities; physical and financial elder abuse; and animal cruelty.

DeGenova explained further that the community collaboration will be a “free flow” of information between the agencies and the prosecutor’s office.

“It is beginning now, and we are planning on taking over all of the animal cruelty prosecutions that are handled by Animal Charity (of Ohio),” DeGenova said.

“However, they currently have legal counsel and it’s going to be a transition. We’re giving our prosecutor time to come to speed with the nuances of the law. It’s a specialized area of the law, and we want to make sure that when we transition, they have as much knowledge as the experts who are currently handling those cases for them.”

The SVU is looking forward to allowing these cases to come in-house, with no charge to Animal Charity, as prosecutors for the group. This would allow Animal Charity to use their resources elsewhere.

“The SVU is an opportunity for our office to prioritize seeking justice for our community’s most vulnerable victims,” Bonish said. “Special victims need prosecutors who are prepared to deal with unique issues presented in these types of cases.”

Bonish continued, “Some of these victims cannot speak for themselves in court, but they deserve to have their abusers held accountable for their crimes. Hopefully, the existence of a select group of assistant Mahoning County prosecutors devoted to handling such cases will encourage victims who are suffering abuse as well as citizens who may witness abuse to come forward and disclose.”