YOUNGSTOWN — During 2024, Mahoning County saw an increase in rape cases being indicted over the previous year.

Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro provided statistics on rape indictments over the past five years.

They showed that there were 21 rape indictments in 2024, up five from the year before, or a 31% increase. The number was relatively unchanged from 2021 to 2023 — either 16 or 17. There were five rape indictments in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the criminal justice system.

So far this year, in Maro’s first year as county prosecutor, the number is eight as of July 24, suggesting that the number will drop this year compared with 2024, when Gina DeGenova was county prosecutor.

Maro said she was unable to provide any information on where the 21 rape indictments from 2024 originated, meaning the community where the alleged rapes occurred or what law enforcement agency investigated the allegations.

Lt. Ryan Laatsch of the Youngstown Police Department, the recently appointed commander of YPD’s Special Victims Unit, provided statistics on the rapes and other types of investigations the SVU has investigated in recent years, but he could not identify which of the 21 cases indicted in 2024 were investigated by YPD.

PROSECUTOR

Maro said she is “aware that there is an ever increasing number of sex-offense cases being reported. It does take a lot of resources to look into those and decide what, if any charges, are appropriate.”

She said she has not seen any “patterns as far as (what community) they are coming from or adults versus children.” She mentioned that she has three prosecutors working in her Violence Against Women Act unit, which handles rape prosecutions.

The unit received a $52,634 Violence Against Women Act grant this year from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services. The funds assist local governments and nonprofit community-based organizations in administering justice for and strengthening services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, according to a news release.

Maro explained that the VAWA unit was formerly called the Special Victims Unit under her predecessor, DeGenova, who lost to Maro in the November 2024 election. Maro has changed the name back to the VAWA unit, she said.

After Maro provided the statistics, she had additional thoughts on them, especially the increase in rape indictments between 2023 and 2024, saying “Nobody sees this as a spike or anomaly” because a change from 16 or 17 rape cases to 21 is not a significant change.

“A spike would be if we had 20 (rapes) and now had 30, 35 or 40. A deviation of three to five or six isn’t a big deal in law enforcement.” She said there are “a zillion variables” that can result in an increase in a crime category such as rapes.

“Some years there are more shootings in Youngstown. Some years there’s not. Some years there is more shoplifting in the mall. Some years there’s not. You see that ebb and flow in every type of crime,” Maro said.

Maro said she spoke with Caitlyn Andrews, head of the VAWA unit who has prosecuted sex crimes for about five years. She said Andrews “looked at me and said I don’t even see 2024 as anything out of the ordinary.”

Maro said that when you look at the 226,000 population of Mahoning County “and you look at all of the jurisdictions and the increase of three to five cases in a particular (type) of crime … an increase of three to five really isn’t anything that you could identify any pattern or cause of.”

MAHONING COUNTY SHERIFF

When Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene was asked about the role of the Mahoning County Sheriff’s office in investigating rapes, he said the office has a detective who investigates cases that originate at Mahoning County Children Services. And the sheriff’s office investigates rapes in areas of the county where deputies serve as the law enforcement agency, such as Canfield Township.

But Youngstown handles its own rape investigations, as does townships such as Boardman and Austintown, he said. It would be difficult for him to talk about the quantity or other specifics of rape cases in the county because the sheriff’s office investigates a small percentage of them, he said.

But in seeing the statistics provided by the prosecutor’s office showing seven rape indictments in 2020, 16 in 2021, 17 in 2022, 16 in 2023, 21 in 2024 and eight this year through July 24, Greene said he would call 2024 a “spike” but not an “increase” because the number appears to be falling back down to 2023 levels this year.

“So it’s difficult for me to say I have noticed an increase,” Greene said. He has noticed that the type of crimes investigated by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force have remained “constant,” he said.

The multi-agency task force works to arrest and convict people who buy sex, promote human trafficking or possess child pornography. Greene heads the task force. He said the amount of those types of crimes is “not going away. It’s continuous. So we are continuously working on it.”

FORMER PROSECUTOR

When DeGenova, who is now a magistrate in Mahoning County Juvenile Court, was asked for her reaction to the increase in rape cases indicted in 2024, she said she could not comment because of her new judicial role.

DeGenova issued a news release in January 2024 when she created the Special Victims Unit of the prosecutor’s office, stating that she was “devoted to seeking justice for vulnerable victim groups.”

Among them were victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and domestic homicides, crimes against children, human trafficking, child pornography, crimes against individuals with developmental disabilities, elder abuse and animal cruelty, the release stated.

CHILDREN SERVICES

When Richard Tvaroch, Mahoning County Children Services executive director, was asked about the higher number of rape indictments in 2024, his spokewoman, Jennifer Kollar, responded: “Our agency values the strong collaboration we have with Prosecutor Maro’s office, local law enforcement and all our community partners to ensure serious cases involving child victims are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted.”

It continued, “While indictment numbers can vary year to year, we remain deeply committed to prioritizing child safety and justice, and we will continue working together to protect the most vulnerable in our community.”

HARD TO GET INFORMATION

The Vindicator’s attempts to identify the agency that investigated all 21 rape cases indicted in 2024 and the town where the offenses allegedly occurred were made through requests to Maro and the Youngstown Police Department, but the attempts were not successful.

The Vindicator tried to search for that information through Courtview, the computer software used by the Mahoning County Clerk of Courts office to manage court cases in Mahoning County, including rapes, but that also did not provide information on the agency that investigated or where the offenses allegedly occurred.

Many rape cases indicted in Mahoning County appear on weekly county grand jury reports as a “John Doe” or “Jane Doe.” Sometimes they say the person was secretly indicted and no name is given. Officials have said that is to give authorities time to arrest the person before the person has the chance to possibly flee the area.

Sometimes rape cases result from a direct presentment to the Mahoning County grand jury, meaning it does not go through a municipal or county area court first. The lower courts typically provide the name of the agency that investigated its criminal cases.

Prosecutors are sometimes willing to provide the name of the town where the offenses are alleged to have happened and / or the name of the agency that investigated it after the suspect has been arraigned, but not always.

The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office website provides summaries of major criminal cases, usually at the point where the case was resolved through a plea or sentencing, including rape cases. The summaries generally provide information such as the community where the offense took place.

For instance, an April 10, 2025, news release stated that Michael Alexander was sentenced to 15 to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of rape. The release states that the rapes took place in Youngstown and thanked the Youngstown Police Department for its hard work on the case.

A March 4 news release stated that Ke’Monie Colpetro was convicted of rape and gross sexual imposition and was sentenced to 12 to 15 1/2 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child in Austintown.

YPD

Laatsch became commander of the Youngstown Police Department’s Special Victims Unit in February, after he was promoted to lieutenant. The unit investigates matters including child rapes, domestic violence and runaways.

He said, “The Youngstown Police Department is proud of the exceptional work our Special Victims Unit investigators do every day. Over the past year, SVU has successfully navigated hundreds of challenging cases, demonstrating unwavering dedication, skill and a deep commitment to justice for the most vulnerable among us.”

He added, “Through meticulous investigation, empathetic victim support and tenacious pursuit of offenders, they have brought resolution and hope to countless individuals and families. Each of our investigators played a vital role in this success, working collaboratively through every step of the process.”

He concluded, “Together, they’ve sent a message that such crimes will not be tolerated and have created an environment where victims can feel empowered to seek help. Their tireless work to break cycles of violence cannot be overstated, and the positive ripples it sends through our community are immeasurable.”

YOUNGSTOWN STATS

Laatsch and the YPD crime analyst, Julie Orto, provided the following statistics on the number of cases the Special Victims Unit investigated over the past five years:

2020 — 2,071 total; 29 rape; 442 domestic violence; 476 runaway

2021 — 1,976 total; 51 rape; 493 domestic violence; 370 runaway

2022 — 2,006 total; 38 rape; 481 domestic violence; 362 runaway

2023 — 2.236 total; 41 rape; 572 domestic violence; 388 runaway

2024 — 2,122 total; 32 rape; 465 domestic violence; 496 runaway

The statistics show a decrease in the number of rape cases investigated in 2024 — 32 compared with 41 the year before. The highest number of rape cases investigated by the Youngstown Police Department since 2020 was 51 in 2021.

2024 CASES

The following is a list of individuals who were indicted on rape in Mahoning County in 2024. The list was provided by the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office with additional information added by The Vindicator. Some of the defendants listed already have been sentenced. One died after he was indicted.

Where known, the agency that investigated the rapes is listed. That information came mostly from interviews with assistant prosecutors, though in some cases the information was provided in lower courts, such as Youngstown Municipal Court or Campbell Municipal Court.

*Joseph D. Stevens, 44, of Youngstown was secretly indicted Dec. 19 and pleaded guilty to one count of rape on July 14. The prosecution and defense are jointly recommending that he get six to nine years in prison. His indictment stated that he raped an adult in June 2023. He has no sentencing date. The case was investigated by Youngstown police.

* Chad Scofinsky, 37, of Youngstown, was secretly indicted Dec. 19, 2024, on rape and other charges. He is set for a jury trial Dec. 8. It was investigated by Youngstown police.

* Andre West, 39, of Boardman, was indicted on rape and other other charges Nov. 21. He is set for a jury trial Jan. 12, 2026. He was named in a superseding indictment Feb. 13 on three counts of rape and other offenses.

* Nikolas Moore, 31, of Salem, was indicted Oct. 31, 2024. He was sentenced March 27 to 10 to 12 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of rape.

* Larry Burgess, 36, of the Mahoning County jail, was secretly indicted on rape Oct. 24 and is set for a jury trial Sept. 29.

* Mason L. Schneider, 43, Beachview Drive, Lake Milton, was sentenced to 18 years in prison Dec. 2 after he pleaded guilty to six sex offenses involving six victims, including one count of rape and two counts of attempted rape. The crimes occurred in Struthers.

* Malachai S. Woodall, 24, of South Avenue in Youngstown, was indicted on four counts of rape in October that carry a possible life prison sentence and other charges. He has a pretrial Oct. 1 and a jury trial date of Feb. 9, 2026.

* Nicholas Y. Felder, 25, of the North Central Correctional Institution in Marion, was indicted in September on one count of rape and other charges. He has no trial date. The Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force investigated.

* Nicholas Kowal, 34, of Winchester Avenue in Youngstown, was sentenced May 15 to life in prison with parole eligibility after 10 years after pleading guilty to one count of rape.

* Terrance L. Jefferies, 65, of the Mahoning County jail, was indicted on one count of rape and one count of compelling prostitution and has a Sept. 25 pretrial hearing and Nov. 3 jury trial date. It was investigated by Campbell police.

* Mildred Woods, 45, of the Mahoning County jail, was indicted on one count of rape and other charges. She has a status hearing at 10 a.m. Nov. 5.

* Crispin L. Crago, 41, whose last known address was on East Calla Road in New Middletown, was indicted on three counts of rape that carry a possible life prison sentence. He is set for trial Nov. 17.

* Michael T. Alexander, 50, of Quentin Drive in Youngstown, was sentenced April 10 to 15 to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of child rape. It was investigated by Youngstown police.

* Ke’Monie L. Colpetro, 25, of Compass West Drive in Austintown, was sentenced Feb. 19 to 12 to 15.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to child rape and gross sexual imposition. It was investigated by Austintown police.

* John D. Johnson, 36, of Shields Road in Boardman, was sentenced to 3 to 4 1/2 years in prison Nov. 28, after pleading guilty to one count of rape.

* Rory J. Stephenson, 43, of Roslyn Drive in Youngstown, was indicted on one count of rape and other charges. The case was dismissed in March after Stephenson died. The circumstances of his death are not known.

* A Boardman man (name intentionally deleted) was indicted in May of 2024 on rape, but a jury found him not guilty of all charges in January.

* David Merchant, 69, of East Philadelphia Avenue in Youngstown, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in January after pleading guilty to two counts of rape. He was secretly indicted Aug. 1, 2024. The rapes took place in Youngstown.

* Quentell Elhakim, 30, of Walnut Street, West Middlesex, Pa., was secretly indicted Aug. 8, 2024, on three counts of rape and is set for a jury trial Nov. 17.

* Damaris T. Grant, 44, of the Mahoning County jail, was indicted in June of 2024 on eight counts of rape, including three charges that carry a possible life prison sentence, and other offenses. He is set for trial Oct. 6 and has a pretrial hearing Sept. 4. It was investigated by the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.

* Hiram Diaz, 58, of the Mahoning County jail, was named in a superseding indictment March 3, 2024, on one count of rape and other charges.

BOX

Mahoning County rape indictments

2020 — 7

2021 — 16

2022 — 17

2023 — 16

2024 — 21

2025 — 8 (as of July 24)

Source: Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office

Staff file photo / Ed Runyan

Michael T. Alexander, 50, of Youngstown, was sentenced to 15-to-19 years in prison in April after pleading guilty earlier to two counts of rape of a child from 2018 through 2023. At right is defense attorney Rhys Cartwright-Jones.

Mah rape cases B file photo

Staff file photo / Ed Runyan

Nicholas Kowal, 34, of Winchester Avenue in Youngstown, pleaded guilty to one count of rape May 15 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison. The victim was under the age of 13.

Mahoning rape indictments rose in 2024, dropping back down this year

By ED RUNYAN

Staff writer

YOUNGSTOWN — During 2024, Mahoning County saw an increase in rape cases being indicted over the previous year.

Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro provided statistics on rape indictments over the past five years.

They showed that there were 21 rape indictments in 2024, up five from the year before, or a 31% increase. The number was relatively unchanged from 2021 to 2023 — either 16 or 17. There were five rape indictments in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the criminal justice system.

So far this year, in Maro’s first year as county prosecutor, the number is eight as of July 24, suggesting that the number will drop this year compared with 2024, when Gina DeGenova was county prosecutor.

Maro said she was unable to provide any information on where the 21 rape indictments from 2024 originated, meaning the community where the alleged rapes occurred or what law enforcement agency investigated the allegations.

Lt. Ryan Laatsch of the Youngstown Police Department, the recently appointed commander of YPD’s Special Victims Unit, provided statistics on the rapes and other types of investigations the SVU has investigated in recent years, but he could not identify which of the 21 cases indicted in 2024 were investigated by YPD.

PROSECUTOR

Maro said she is “aware that there is an ever increasing number of sex-offense cases being reported. It does take a lot of resources to look into those and decide what, if any charges, are appropriate.”

She said she has not seen any “patterns as far as (what community) they are coming from or adults versus children.” She mentioned that she has three prosecutors working in her Violence Against Women Act unit, which handles rape prosecutions.

The unit received a $52,634 Violence Against Women Act grant this year from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services. The funds assist local governments and nonprofit community-based organizations in administering justice for and strengthening services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, according to a news release.

Maro explained that the VAWA unit was formerly called the Special Victims Unit under her predecessor, DeGenova, who lost to Maro in the November 2024 election. Maro has changed the name back to the VAWA unit, she said.

After Maro provided the statistics, she had additional thoughts on them, especially the increase in rape indictments between 2023 and 2024, saying “Nobody sees this as a spike or anomaly” because a change from 16 or 17 rape cases to 21 is not a significant change.

“A spike would be if we had 20 (rapes) and now had 30, 35 or 40. A deviation of three to five or six isn’t a big deal in law enforcement.” She said there are “a zillion variables” that can result in an increase in a crime category such as rapes.

“Some years there are more shootings in Youngstown. Some years there’s not. Some years there is more shoplifting in the mall. Some years there’s not. You see that ebb and flow in every type of crime,” Maro said.

Maro said she spoke with Caitlyn Andrews, head of the VAWA unit who has prosecuted sex crimes for about five years. She said Andrews “looked at me and said I don’t even see 2024 as anything out of the ordinary.”

Maro said that when you look at the 226,000 population of Mahoning County “and you look at all of the jurisdictions and the increase of three to five cases in a particular (type) of crime … an increase of three to five really isn’t anything that you could identify any pattern or cause of.”

MAHONING COUNTY SHERIFF

When Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene was asked about the role of the Mahoning County Sheriff’s office in investigating rapes, he said the office has a detective who investigates cases that originate at Mahoning County Children Services. And the sheriff’s office investigates rapes in areas of the county where deputies serve as the law enforcement agency, such as Canfield Township.

But Youngstown handles its own rape investigations, as does townships such as Boardman and Austintown, he said. It would be difficult for him to talk about the quantity or other specifics of rape cases in the county because the sheriff’s office investigates a small percentage of them, he said.

But in seeing the statistics provided by the prosecutor’s office showing seven rape indictments in 2020, 16 in 2021, 17 in 2022, 16 in 2023, 21 in 2024 and eight this year through July 24, Greene said he would call 2024 a “spike” but not an “increase” because the number appears to be falling back down to 2023 levels this year.

“So it’s difficult for me to say I have noticed an increase,” Greene said. He has noticed that the type of crimes investigated by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force have remained “constant,” he said.

The multi-agency task force works to arrest and convict people who buy sex, promote human trafficking or possess child pornography. Greene heads the task force. He said the amount of those types of crimes is “not going away. It’s continuous. So we are continuously working on it.”

FORMER PROSECUTOR

When DeGenova, who is now a magistrate in Mahoning County Juvenile Court, was asked for her reaction to the increase in rape cases indicted in 2024, she said she could not comment because of her new judicial role.

DeGenova issued a news release in January 2024 when she created the Special Victims Unit of the prosecutor’s office, stating that she was “devoted to seeking justice for vulnerable victim groups.”

Among them were victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and domestic homicides, crimes against children, human trafficking, child pornography, crimes against individuals with developmental disabilities, elder abuse and animal cruelty, the release stated.

CHILDREN SERVICES

When Richard Tvaroch, Mahoning County Children Services executive director, was asked about the higher number of rape indictments in 2024, his spokewoman, Jennifer Kollar, responded: “Our agency values the strong collaboration we have with Prosecutor Maro’s office, local law enforcement and all our community partners to ensure serious cases involving child victims are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted.”

It continued, “While indictment numbers can vary year to year, we remain deeply committed to prioritizing child safety and justice, and we will continue working together to protect the most vulnerable in our community.”

HARD TO GET INFORMATION

The Vindicator’s attempts to identify the agency that investigated all 21 rape cases indicted in 2024 and the town where the offenses allegedly occurred were made through requests to Maro and the Youngstown Police Department, but the attempts were not successful.

The Vindicator tried to search for that information through Courtview, the computer software used by the Mahoning County Clerk of Courts office to manage court cases in Mahoning County, including rapes, but that also did not provide information on the agency that investigated or where the offenses allegedly occurred.

Many rape cases indicted in Mahoning County appear on weekly county grand jury reports as a “John Doe” or “Jane Doe.” Sometimes they say the person was secretly indicted and no name is given. Officials have said that is to give authorities time to arrest the person before the person has the chance to possibly flee the area.

Sometimes rape cases result from a direct presentment to the Mahoning County grand jury, meaning it does not go through a municipal or county area court first. The lower courts typically provide the name of the agency that investigated its criminal cases.

Prosecutors are sometimes willing to provide the name of the town where the offenses are alleged to have happened and / or the name of the agency that investigated it after the suspect has been arraigned, but not always.

The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office website provides summaries of major criminal cases, usually at the point where the case was resolved through a plea or sentencing, including rape cases. The summaries generally provide information such as the community where the offense took place.

For instance, an April 10, 2025, news release stated that Michael Alexander was sentenced to 15 to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of rape. The release states that the rapes took place in Youngstown and thanked the Youngstown Police Department for its hard work on the case.

A March 4 news release stated that Ke’Monie Colpetro was convicted of rape and gross sexual imposition and was sentenced to 12 to 15 1/2 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child in Austintown.

YPD

Laatsch became commander of the Youngstown Police Department’s Special Victims Unit in February, after he was promoted to lieutenant. The unit investigates matters including child rapes, domestic violence and runaways.

He said, “The Youngstown Police Department is proud of the exceptional work our Special Victims Unit investigators do every day. Over the past year, SVU has successfully navigated hundreds of challenging cases, demonstrating unwavering dedication, skill and a deep commitment to justice for the most vulnerable among us.”

He added, “Through meticulous investigation, empathetic victim support and tenacious pursuit of offenders, they have brought resolution and hope to countless individuals and families. Each of our investigators played a vital role in this success, working collaboratively through every step of the process.”

He concluded, “Together, they’ve sent a message that such crimes will not be tolerated and have created an environment where victims can feel empowered to seek help. Their tireless work to break cycles of violence cannot be overstated, and the positive ripples it sends through our community are immeasurable.”

YOUNGSTOWN STATS

Laatsch and the YPD crime analyst, Julie Orto, provided the following statistics on the number of cases the Special Victims Unit investigated over the past five years:

2020 — 2,071 total; 29 rape; 442 domestic violence; 476 runaway

2021 — 1,976 total; 51 rape; 493 domestic violence; 370 runaway

2022 — 2,006 total; 38 rape; 481 domestic violence; 362 runaway

2023 — 2.236 total; 41 rape; 572 domestic violence; 388 runaway

2024 — 2,122 total; 32 rape; 465 domestic violence; 496 runaway

The statistics show a decrease in the number of rape cases investigated in 2024 — 32 compared with 41 the year before. The highest number of rape cases investigated by the Youngstown Police Department since 2020 was 51 in 2021.

2024 CASES

The following is a list of individuals who were indicted on rape in Mahoning County in 2024. The list was provided by the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office with additional information added by The Vindicator. Some of the defendants listed already have been sentenced. One died after he was indicted.

Where known, the agency that investigated the rapes is listed. That information came mostly from interviews with assistant prosecutors, though in some cases the information was provided in lower courts, such as Youngstown Municipal Court or Campbell Municipal Court.

*Joseph D. Stevens, 44, of Youngstown was secretly indicted Dec. 19 and pleaded guilty to one count of rape on July 14. The prosecution and defense are jointly recommending that he get six to nine years in prison. His indictment stated that he raped an adult in June 2023. He has no sentencing date. The case was investigated by Youngstown police.

* Chad Scofinsky, 37, of Youngstown, was secretly indicted Dec. 19, 2024, on rape and other charges. He is set for a jury trial Dec. 8. It was investigated by Youngstown police.

* Andre West, 39, of Boardman, was indicted on rape and other other charges Nov. 21. He is set for a jury trial Jan. 12, 2026. He was named in a superseding indictment Feb. 13 on three counts of rape and other offenses.

* Nikolas Moore, 31, of Salem, was indicted Oct. 31, 2024. He was sentenced March 27 to 10 to 12 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of rape.

* Larry Burgess, 36, of the Mahoning County jail, was secretly indicted on rape Oct. 24 and is set for a jury trial Sept. 29.

* Mason L. Schneider, 43, Beachview Drive, Lake Milton, was sentenced to 18 years in prison Dec. 2 after he pleaded guilty to six sex offenses involving six victims, including one count of rape and two counts of attempted rape. The crimes occurred in Struthers.

* Malachai S. Woodall, 24, of South Avenue in Youngstown, was indicted on four counts of rape in October that carry a possible life prison sentence and other charges. He has a pretrial Oct. 1 and a jury trial date of Feb. 9, 2026.

* Nicholas Y. Felder, 25, of the North Central Correctional Institution in Marion, was indicted in September on one count of rape and other charges. He has no trial date. The Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force investigated.

* Nicholas Kowal, 34, of Winchester Avenue in Youngstown, was sentenced May 15 to life in prison with parole eligibility after 10 years after pleading guilty to one count of rape.

* Terrance L. Jefferies, 65, of the Mahoning County jail, was indicted on one count of rape and one count of compelling prostitution and has a Sept. 25 pretrial hearing and Nov. 3 jury trial date. It was investigated by Campbell police.

* Mildred Woods, 45, of the Mahoning County jail, was indicted on one count of rape and other charges. She has a status hearing at 10 a.m. Nov. 5.

* Crispin L. Crago, 41, whose last known address was on East Calla Road in New Middletown, was indicted on three counts of rape that carry a possible life prison sentence. He is set for trial Nov. 17.

* Michael T. Alexander, 50, of Quentin Drive in Youngstown, was sentenced April 10 to 15 to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of child rape. It was investigated by Youngstown police.

* Ke’Monie L. Colpetro, 25, of Compass West Drive in Austintown, was sentenced Feb. 19 to 12 to 15.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to child rape and gross sexual imposition. It was investigated by Austintown police.

* John D. Johnson, 36, of Shields Road in Boardman, was sentenced to 3 to 4 1/2 years in prison Nov. 28, after pleading guilty to one count of rape.

* Rory J. Stephenson, 43, of Roslyn Drive in Youngstown, was indicted on one count of rape and other charges. The case was dismissed in March after Stephenson died. The circumstances of his death are not known.

* A Boardman man (name intentionally deleted) was indicted in May of 2024 on rape, but a jury found him not guilty of all charges in January.

* David Merchant, 69, of East Philadelphia Avenue in Youngstown, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in January after pleading guilty to two counts of rape. He was secretly indicted Aug. 1, 2024. The rapes took place in Youngstown.

* Quentell Elhakim, 30, of Walnut Street, West Middlesex, Pa., was secretly indicted Aug. 8, 2024, on three counts of rape and is set for a jury trial Nov. 17.

* Damaris T. Grant, 44, of the Mahoning County jail, was indicted in June of 2024 on eight counts of rape, including three charges that carry a possible life prison sentence, and other offenses. He is set for trial Oct. 6 and has a pretrial hearing Sept. 4. It was investigated by the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.

* Hiram Diaz, 58, of the Mahoning County jail, was named in a superseding indictment March 3, 2024, on one count of rape and other charges.