YOUNGSTOWN — Terry A. Thomas Jr., 33, of Youngstown was sentenced to 18 months in prison Wednesday for violating the terms of his probation in a 2022 case in which he was convicted of the felony charge of retaliation.

Thomas’ probation violation was an April 1 conviction in Youngstown Municipal Court on misdemeanor unlawful restraint and domestic violence — offenses similar to the circumstances for which he was convicted of felony retaliation.

Both incidents were detailed in a recent story in The Vindicator that explained what felony intimidation and retaliation offenses are and revealed that the number of felony intimidation cases have been on the rise in the past couple of years in Mahoning County.

An intimidation charge accuses a person of attempting to influence, intimidate or hinder such people as police officers, attorneys or witnesses. The retaliation charge is similar except it accuses a person of retaliating against such people.

Thomas’ behavior during two incidents involved intimidation of people he lived with and police officers.

In 2022 he was indicted on intimidation, retaliation and other offenses after police were called to a home on Rutledge Drive on the East Side on allegations that Thomas assaulted the two children of his wife. When police responded, Thomas, who was intoxicated, repeatedly fought with police and ambulance personnel and threatened to assault and shoot officers and ambulance personnel.

The woman filled out a domestic violence form but would not cooperate with prosecutors in the case.

Judge Thomas Pokorny, who was filling in for Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Krichbaum, sentenced Thomas Jan. 18, 2023, to two years of probation and no jail or prison time on the retaliation conviction. Pokorny ordered Thomas to not harm or threaten anyone. Violating probation could result in up to three years in prison, Thomas was told.

So when Thomas was arrested again March 7 at apparently the same home on Rutledge Drive, involving many of the same victims and under similar circumstances, it was a probation violation.

He was intoxicated and threatened the woman, the woman’s mother and her children, who all lived in the home, a Youngstown police report states. Police had to use a “ram” to break down two doors to arrest Thomas.

On Wednesday, Krichbaum ruled that Thomas had violated his probation. Before announcing the sentence, the judge read a letter, apparently from a victim, asking for the judge to set up a “mental health plan” for Thomas.

He described the letter as coming from a person who “I suppose you could say loves and cares so much about you that they’re willing to let you beat the crap out of them over and over and over again and come in and still back you up.” The judge said he thinks that is “confusion.”

A second letter asked for Thomas to “get the help, then he would be rehabilitated and not just another statistic.”

Krichbaum said “I guess I have always had trouble understanding how somebody comes before a common pleas judge, which means they committed a serious crime and then it’s perceived that I’m supposed to help them.”

He continued, “There are some judges who think that’s their mission — hold the hand of the criminal defendant and make sure nothing bad ever happens to somebody who commits crime over and over and over again.”

Thomas got credit for 116 days in the Mahoning County jail awaiting completion of the new charges in municipal court and Thomas’ probation violation hearing at the end of that case.

Have an interesting story? Email Ed Runyan at erunyan@vindy.com.