Sergio F. Gonzalez, 23, left, appears with his attorney, Aaron Meikle, during his sentencing hearing Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Gonzalez was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison after being convicted at trial of two counts of rape.

YOUNGSTOWN — Over the course of about five weeks, Sergio F. Gonzalez III, 23, of Youngstown, went from being a two-year fugitive to being convicted at trial of rape and now sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.

Judge John Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Gonzalez on Monday following a trial earlier this month.

Gonzalez did not offer any statement to the judge prior to sentencing, but his attorney, Aaron Meikle, said Gonzalez “maintains his innocence.” Meikle said he finds the law regarding the conviction Gonzalez now has “confusing” and said he is not convinced the judge was required to add the “life” part of the sentence.

Meikle asked the judge to give Gonzalez a “10-year sentence.” He added that he thinks the seriousness of this offense is on the “lower end.”

The judge then stated that the jury was able to evaluate the credibility of the victim by seeing her testify. He then agreed with Meikle that the sentencing statute related to this offense is “not easy to follow,” but believes the law requires him to sentence Gonzalez to 10 years to life, not just 10 years.

Gonzalez gets credit for 40 days spent in the Mahoning County jail awaiting trial. Gonzalez is now a tier 3 sex offender, meaning he is required to register his address every 90 days for the rest of his life if he is able to leave prison.

Gonzalez, of Garland Avenue, was indicted on two counts of child rape in May of 2022 after the 7th District Court of Appeals reversed a decision in Mahoning County Juvenile Court and ordered Judge Theresa Dellick to transfer his case to the adult-level common pleas court.

Judge Dellick had ruled Gonzalez’ case would be handled in juvenile court, saying Gonzalez was “amenable to rehabilitation in the juvenile system,” but the appeals panel disagreed. It agreed with the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office, which argued that because Gonzalez would be turning 21 within two months of Dellick’s ruling, that left too little time for the juvenile court and staff at the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center to rehabilitate Gonzalez before he would be released.

After Gonzalez was indicted, he did not appear for his arraignment, and a bench warrant was issued for arrest. He remained on the run for more than two years, until Canfield police arrested him on the warrant after pulling him over June 12 for a loud exhaust.

Gonzalez and Meikle did not waive speedy trial time at a June 26 pretrial hearing, meaning Gonzalez wanted prosecutors to bring him to trial by the limits stated under Ohio law, and his trial began July 8. It continued through July 11, when the jury reached guilty verdicts on both counts.

The case involved a girl who was less than 13 on the last day of 2017 or early morning hours Jan. 1, 2018, when she was forced to engage in a sex act with Gonzalez at a home in Youngstown, where she sometimes visited. Gonzalez was 17 at the time.

Gonzalez also was convicted of forcing the girl to engage in a sex act with him several months later in 2018, according to court testimony.

During a counseling session two years later with Tamara LeFlore, a Red Zone counselor in Youngstown City Schools, who the girl had been talking to for several weeks, the victim told LeFlore about the episodes involving Gonzalez, the victim testified.

Gonzalez testified that the girl approached him and asked him for marijuana and a cellphone. He said she was desperate for access to a phone after her mother had taken hers away, stating, “She said she would do anything for a phone and some weed.”

The victim testified for more than an hour under questioning by Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Day and Meikle. Two school counselors she disclosed the rapes to also testified.

The victim did not attend the sentencing hearing. Her representative attended, but did not make a statement.

Kevin Day, assistant county prosecutor, told Durkin during the hearing that Gonzalez “preyed upon an 11-year-old girl. They are both going to have to live with that the rest of their lives.”

Day applauded the “bravery of the victim and the mother for having the courage to come in here and testify, to tell 12 strangers and everybody that was in the courtroom what happened, to face the person who assaulted her and have the bravery to do that.”

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