Staff photo / Ed Runyan ABOVE: Testimony began Tuesday in the rape trial of Dustin Ruiter, 50, of Warren and Youngstown in Mahoning County

YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Kristie Weibling provided a roadmap of the evidence prosecutors planned to present in the rape trial of Dustin Ruiter, 50, in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Weibling said Ruiter began to sexually abuse one girl in 2018 and then a second girl after that. They both disclosed the assaults to a trusted adult in June of 2019.

“This is why we are here — because of the disgusting and heinous crimes that the defendant committed,” Weibling said.

Weibling said Ruiter is charged with 67 counts related to the two girls — 33 counts of rape, 21 of them the alleged forcible rape of one girl. The other 12 are for the alleged forcible rape of the other girl. He is also charged with one count of attempted rape and 33 counts of sexual battery involving the same two girls, Weibling said.

The adult the girls told about the abuse will testify, as well as Youngstown police officers involved in the case, Weibling said. “They will tell you about the evidence that was collected and the investigation,” she said.

Also testifying will be caseworkers from Mahoning County Children Services who were involved with the case and nurse who performed a sexual assault exam on one of the girls. A nurse practitioner at the Child Advocacy Center at Akron Children’s Hospital will explain what the Child Advocacy Center is and the disclosures the girls made.

Scientists with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation will testify about the testing done on evidence in this case, she said. Also, the two girls will testify.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this defendant committed wicked and disgusting crimes,” Weibling said. “Although these crimes are serious, this is not a complex case. That defendant sexually abused” the girls “for a period of months, Weibling said.

Defense attorney James Wise followed that opening statement with a shorter statement, saying “Cases like this are very difficult.” He said Weibling just stated what prosecutors “think the evidence is going to show.”

Then he mentioned that Super Bowl weekend is coming up, and that it makes him think about situations where a football comes loose and it’s not apparent which team will have possession.

“I can never understand when there is a fumble, and everyone from the one team is always pointing that they got the ball. They’re pointing, saying ‘We got it. We got it.’ Just sit there and listen.”

Wise also said he wanted to remind the jurors that “One reasonable doubt means not guilty.”