A judge has sentenced a northwest Ohio woman to five years in prison for raping a 6-year-old girl in 2005.
Trisha Steele had pleaded guilty to one count of rape in a deal with prosecutors that included her testifying against her former boyfriend and co-defendant. She was sentenced in Lima Thursday.
Her co-defendant, 38-year-old William Purdy, was convicted last month of six child rape charges and will be sentenced later. He could face up to life in prison.
The Lima News reports that Steele apologized in court Thursday. The victim’s mother was in court but did not speak.
WESTLAKE
‘Cleaning fairy’ pleads to criminal charge
A woman dubbed the “cleaning fairy” has pleaded guilty to attempted burglary in northeastern Ohio.
The (Elyria) Chronicle-Telegram says Susan Warren got the nickname after breaking into a home west of Cleveland, cleaning it and leaving a bill for $75.
Warren pleaded guilty this week to attempted burglary and will be sentenced later.
The 53-year-old Warren told authorities that she was driving by the house and “wanted something to do.” She broke in, washed some coffee cups, took out the trash, vacuumed and dusted inside the house. Then she left a bill written on a napkin that included her phone number.
Warren said that she owns a cleaning business and sometimes enters homes, cleans them and leaves a bill.
She has another burglary case pending, but circumstances weren’t clear.
COLUMBUS
Teen charged in fatal shooting
A 16-year-old boy has been arrested in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man on a south Columbus street.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that the man died at 8 p.m. Thursday at a hospital about an hour after the shooting. Two people were later taken into custody after a brief standoff.
After the suspects were interviewed by investigators, the 16-year-old was charged with murder.
The victim was identified as 19-year-old Kylan Cunningham.
Detectives are still trying to determine what led to the shooting.
COLUMBUS
Patrol, police join traffic effortThe State Highway Patrol and Columbus police have formed a partnership targeting traffic enforcement on Interstates 70 and 71 within the central Ohio city.
They say 80 percent of the fatal crashes occurring in Franklin County this year have been within the city of Columbus on the major interstate routes. Authorities say the main factors contributing to those crashes were drivers following too closely, failing to yield and failing to maintain control.
Officials say they hope a more visible law enforcement presence will decrease the traffic violations that cause crashes.
Troopers and officers will focus their efforts on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday during peak travel hours.
Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs says traffic fatalities are preventable most often by obeying traffic rules and exercising patience.
BRIDGEPORT
Neighbors carry woman from burning home
Quick-thinking neighbors banded together to save a 103-year-old woman from her burning eastern Ohio home.
It happened Wednesday night when the garage caught fire at a home near Bridgeport. WTOV-TV reports that neighbors went into the home and helped the frail woman to safety.
The woman’s daughter told the television station that the entire garage was engulfed before they noticed the home was on fire. She was scrambling to get her mother outside when neighbors came to the rescue. About eight of them helped get her clear of the house.
The cause of the fire has not been determined. Bridgeport is about 125 miles east of Columbus, on the Ohio River.
MANSFIELD
Man gets prison in bath salts case
A northern Ohio man is going to prison for at least three years for distributing the synthetic drug known as bath salts.
Ahmad Fares pleaded guilty in September to possession of drugs and other charges. The 27-year-old was sentenced Wednesday in Mansfield.
The Mansfield News Journal reports that the charges stemmed from the seizure of 5,300 containers of bath salts with a street value of $212,000. Before bath salts were banned, Fares sold them at his drive-through business.
Fares apologized to the community and his family in court.
Bath salts are crystalized chemicals that are snorted, swallowed or smoked. They can cause paranoia and hallucination, and their use has led to hundreds of calls to poison centers nationwide. Ohio lawmakers made them illegal in 2011.
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