YOUNGSTOWN — Opening statements and first witnesses in the rape trial of Brian T. Swansiger, 29, of New Middletown, took place Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court with the alleged victim testifying that she knew Swansiger a little bit at Springfield Local Schools, but he was several years older than her.

She said she and Swansiger made a connection on the dating app Tinder in September 2018, followed by some communications on another social media app, followed by an agreement that Swansiger would come to her home in Struthers to meet up in person Sept. 4, 2018.

She said she still does not know a lot about Tinder, but she created a profile and the app matched the two of them. They texted each other on another app earlier Sept. 4 before the meet-up.

Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Kristie Weibling read from the messages. One of the first things Swansiger asked the woman was whether they should shower together instead of showering separately before he got there, and the woman said her “sisters wouldn’t like that.”

They made small talk and then he asked for a sexy photo, but she said no and later said she didn’t like the idea of sending a photo. She testified that she did not send one. She gave him her address and he arrived a little bit later.

She said when he arrived, they went to her bedroom while one or two of her sisters were still home downstairs. She said she turned on a television program to watch.

But Swansiger wanted her to participate in things she did not want and had sex with her against her will, she said. She repeatedly told him to stop, but at some point she felt “helpless,” she said. Afterward, he left. Two days later, she went to the hospital, where a rape kit was performed, she said.

She spoke with Struthers police officers and told them what happened that night and provided them with the messages from her phone.

In later Tuesday testimony, former Struthers police Detective Michael Trolio said the case went to a Mahoning County grand jury after it was investigated, but he believes the grand jury refused to indict Swansiger.

In opening statements, Weibling said that on Sept. 4, 2018, Swansiger violated the alleged victim, “ignoring her clear instructions to stop” and “overpowered her.”

Weibling said Swansiger is charged with two counts of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition. The latter charge alleges Swansiger “had sexual contact with (the alleged victim), purposely compelling her to submit by force or threat of force.

Weibling said one of the witnesses in the trial will be a retired U.S. Air Force special agent, who carried out an investigation into the Swansiger case years after the earlier investigation carried out by the Struthers Police Department.

DEFENSE

Defense attorney Mark Lavelle said in his opening statement that many of the facts in the case “are not really in dispute.” He said the text messages, for instance, “speak for themselves.”

He said the alleged victim texted Swansiger the next morning, asking “Is that all you came for? He said yes. And then she said ‘I didn’t want to.'”

Lavelle cross examined the alleged victim extensively about things she told Swansiger in the messaging they did the day of the incident.

For instance, Lavelle quoted from a remark Swansiger made about whether she would send him a photo of part of her body or whether he should just see them in person.

The alleged victim texted back “yea, and we can watch TV in my room, and it don’t matter to me.”

Lavelle asked whether she meant that it didn’t matter if he saw that part of her body “in person,” and she replied, “I just kind of said it so he would stop asking” about photos because she was “not that cool with it.”

Lavelle read a part of the messages in which Swansiger asked whether the leggings she was wearing come off easy, and she said “Yes.”

“Well, what does that mean to you?” Lavelle asked.

“He was just asking if I could take it off, and I just said yes to … get him to stop asking those types of questions.”

Lavelle said that in January 2025, “We have a new prosecutor in Mahoning County, and Brian gets indicted at that point” for incidents more than six years earlier.

Lynn Maro took over as county prosecutor in January 2025 after winning the position in the general election the previous November, defeating Gina DeGenova.