Staff photo / Ed Runyan Rickie S. Salus, 39, left, of North Lima pleaded guilty Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to soliciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity with him and other sex offenses involving the same child.

YOUNGSTOWN — Rickie Salus, 39, of North Lima, pleaded guilty Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to soliciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and other sex offenses involving the same child.

The plea agreement he and his attorney reached calls for Salus, of Maplecroft Manufactured Home Community, to get five years in prison. He will be sentenced today in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Altogether, Salus pleaded guilty to four charges, three of them felonies — importuning, attempted gross sexual imposition and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, plus misdemeanor public indecency.

The offenses are similar to the last time Salus was convicted of felony offenses in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court — in 2018 when he pleaded guilty to a lower-level importuning offense, plus two counts of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles — and got a six-month jail sentence and five years of probation.

His probation ended in that case in April 2021 — about two years before he committed the new offenses against a different child, who was also less than 13 years of age, according to court documents.

Salus was labeled a Tier 1 sex offender as a result of the first offenses. He moves up to a Tier 2 sex offender this time, required to register his address wherever he lives every six months for 25 years.

Salus, who has been in the Mahoning County jail since Dec. 15, 2023, will be sentenced by Visiting Judge Timothy McGinty, a retired former Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge, who also presided in Monday’s hearing on behalf of Judge Anthony Donofrio.

After an evaluation was carried out on Salus, Donofrio ordered Salus to be treated at Heartland Behavioral Health Care Center in Massillon for six months in hopes of restoring him to competency to stand trial.

Last September, Donofrio did find Salus competent to stand trial, and his case resumed. Salus was set for trial Monday if Salus had not accepted the plea offer.

McGinty took a great deal of time with Salus to make sure he understood the basics of his rights to a trial by jury, and understood the plea agreement he was entering and the possible sentences he faced. Salus said a couple of times he did not understand, so McGinty tried to explain things another way.

After that was over and it was time for Salus to enter his guilty plea to the first offense, Salus paused for an extended period and McGinty suggested that Salus have his attorney, Aaron Meikle, discuss the matter again at the defense table, which they did for about five minutes.

When he returned, Salus followed through with the guilty pleas.