YOUNGSTOWN — A jury was selected Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for the trial of Sergio F. Gonzalez III, 23, who was indicted more than two years ago on rape charges that could produce a life prison sentence.

Gonzalez, who has been in the Mahoning County jail since he was picked up June 12 during a traffic stop in Canfield, is charged with two counts of rape involving a child who was about 11 at the time of the alleged offenses.

Opening statements before Judge John Durkin are expected to take place early today before the first witnesses take the stand.

The case is unusual in that Gonzalez was 17 at the time he allegedly committed the two rapes. Gonzalez was indicted by the adult-level common pleas court only after the 7th District Court of Appeals ordered the case bound over to adult court.

Judge Theresa Dellick of Mahoning County Juvenile Court initially declined to transfer the case to adult court in June 2021.

She stated Gonzalez was amenable to rehabilitation in the juvenile court system.

She also stated that the timing of the filing of the rape charges against Gonzalez just before he turned 20 “occurred to the detriment of” Gonzalez and the alleged victim. The judge stated that this happened “due to no action of (Gonzalez’s) own.”

But the prosecutor’s office appealed June 18, 2021, arguing that because the suspect would be turning 21 within two months of Dellick’s ruling, that left only two months for the juvenile court and staff at the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center to rehabilitate Gonzalez before he would be released.

The April 2022 appeals court ruling, written by judges David D’Apolito, Gene Donofrio and Carol Ann Robb, found that “two months provides insufficient time to rehabilitate (Gonzalez).”

The ruling stated that “the (judge) observed that the psychological report did not disclose any ‘deviant behavior.’ The juvenile court’s reliance on the foregoing observation completely ignores the alleged crimes, despite the juvenile court’s finding that probable cause (of the suspect committing the crimes) exists based on” the alleged victim’s testimony at a hearing.

The appeals court ruling ordered Dellick to transfer the case to adult court, which she did in an April 4, 2022, judgment entry, which cited the appeals ruling. Gonzalez was indicted the following month, but he could not be located until Canfield police arrested him after observing a minor traffic violation June 12. He has an address on South Garland Avenue. He had a Livingston Street address when he was indicted in 2022.

Staff photo / Ed Runyan
Sergio F. Gonzalez III, 23, of Youngstown, is seen Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court before jury selection begins. He is on trial on two counts of rape involving a child. He faces the possibility of a life prison sentence. Opening statements are set for this morning.