Staff photo / Ed Runyan Isaias M. Colon, 34, listens to Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony D’Apolito during Colon’s plea and sentencing Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Colon entered a plea to gross sexual imposition and received five years in prison. Colon’s plea admitted guilt while also maintaining his innocence. At left is an interpreter.

YOUNGSTOWN — Isaias M. Colon, 34, of Youngstown pleaded guilty to one count of felony gross sexual imposition while still maintaining his innocence in what is called an Alford plea and was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday.

Colon was indicted on attempted rape but that charge was dismissed in exchange for Colon’s guilty plea to gross sexual imposition. Judge Anthony D’Apolito gave Colon the maximum sentence for the offense, which occurred between April 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2023, according to Colon’s indictment. The victim was less than 13 years of age.

Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Caitlyn Andrews said Colon’s crime involved him playing a trick on a child that involved his genitalia. If Colon would have been convicted of attempted rape, he could have gotten a much longer prison sentence.

Colon is now a tier 2 sex offender, meaning he will have to register his address every 180 days for 25 years in the place where he resides after he leaves prison. The five-year sentence was jointly recommended by the prosecution and defense. The victim’s mother was OK with the plea agreement, Andrews said.

An Alford plea is a type of plea in which a defendant “registers a formal admission of guilt toward charges in criminal court while the defendant simultaneously expresses their innocence toward those same charges,” according to the Cornell School of Law’s Legal Information Institute.

In response to questions from D’Apolito, Andrews agreed with the judge that the child’s young age was one reason the prosecution allowed the plea agreement, saying it was important that it avoided the child having to testify at a trial. Andrews agreed with the judge’s statement that the mother wanted to avoid having the child “relive the situation.”

Attorney Joe Ohlin, who represents Colon, said he spoke with his client about the possibility that Colon could have received 10 years to life in prison if he would have taken the case to trial and lost.

“How we got here today was the risk of going to trial, the risk of being found guilty and the risk of going away for the rest of his life in his mind, that was not a rational decision he wanted to make. He maintains his innocence,” Ohlin said. “He has maintained his innocence throughout the pendency of the case and even after this case will continue to maintain his innocence.”