A 61-year-old Litchfield Township man will spend 20 years in prison for raping three teenage boys last year.

Gary Royer, of the 9200 block of Norwalk Road, pleaded no contest last month to seven counts of rape and three counts of gross sexual imposition. The charges were first- and fourth-degree felonies.

Gary Royer

He faced up to 11 years in prison on the rape charges and 1ﾽ years on the others. He was sentenced Thursday by Medina County Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler.

County Prosecutor Dean Holman said Royer would provide alcohol and “poppers” — inhalable muscle relaxers — to the teenagers, who would pass out as a result.

“They’d fall asleep and they’d wake up to find him performing oral sex on them,” Holman said.

He said he was pleased with the sentence levied against Royer.

“This guy committed horrible sex acts on children,” he said. “With his age, we think he’ll probably die in prison. These victims are safe and potential future victims are safe also.”

The case against Royer began in July, when the boys’ families filed reports with police.

“He’s a bad guy,” Holman said. “He’s going where he belongs.”

Royer’s attorney, Robert Hanwell, could not be reached for comment.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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A bank has sued a Medina Schools finance official for defaulting on a loan.

Business Manager Jon Burkhart said the lawsuit was filed as the result of an ongoing divorce, and he assured district residents it was a personal matter that does not affect his work.

“It’s not related to my job,” said Burkhart, whose work duties include paying the district’s monthly credit card bills and keeping financial records.

The $154,822.86 bank loan was jointly signed in 2009 by Burkhart and his wife, now estranged, to secure a prior residence in Mansfield.

According to the Thursday lawsuit, the unpaid portion of the loan is about $48,127.07. Fifth Third Bank has asked a judge to award the remaining portion and any interest accrued on the loan.

“It’s a really sensitive issue,” he said. “I’ve been in negotiations with the bank for a couple months now, and I’ve tried to offer a settlement.”
The case will be heard by Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. Collier.

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State fire marshals began working Friday to determine the cause of a fire at an apartment complex in Medina.

Medina Fire Chief Bob Painter said fire officials got a call at 2:47 a.m. Friday of a fire at 235 Jackson St.

“We had a quick knockout on it,” he said. “It probably took us a half-hour to get it under control, but then we were here for quite a while managing it.”

Medina firefighters and state fire marshals investigate at the scene of an apartment blaze at 235 Jackson St. on Friday. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

He said the fire started in a basement unit on the east side of the building and heavily damaged the second story unit.

Painter said 16 residents were inside when the fire broke out. One woman was treated by emergency personnel at the scene for smoke inhalation and released.

The Red Cross provided aid to firefighters and is providing temporary housing for some residents, Painter said.

A witness, who asked to remain unidentified, said he awoke at 3:26 a.m. to screaming as tenants were being held back from the building by police.

The property, owned by James Pelz, of Medina Township, is valued at $286,140, according to the Medina County auditor’s website. Pelz bought the property in 2006; the apartment building was built in 1960.

The fire is only the second since Jan. 1 in the city of Medina. The other large fire occurred Feb. 22 at a house on Bella Rosa Court.

Painter said the city has been experiencing fewer fires than usual for the time of the year compared with the rest of the county.

“We have been way down on our fire calls this year and last year,” he said. “We usually have three or four a month of some sort.”

The fire at the apartment complex is the 15th serious structure fire in the county since Jan. 1:

• On Jan. 5, six fire departments responded to a house fire at 7291 Stone Road in York Township. The cause of the fire at the sprawling $1.8 million home is under investigation by the fire marshal.
• That same afternoon, six fire departments responded to a barn fire at 5546 Egypt Road in Chatham Township.
• The next day, Jan. 6, five fire departments from the southern portion of the county assisted in a blaze that severely damaged a house on Brook Road in Wadsworth.
• On Jan. 7, a fire destroyed a home on Jones Road, in Litchfield Township.
• Less than a week later, on Jan. 12, firefighters worked for more than four hours to put out a fire at a barn, built in 1920, on Crow Road in Litchfield Township.
• On Jan. 27, a fire gutted a rural home at 8465 Yoder Road about 10:45 a.m. No one was injured, but the home was a total loss.
• On Feb. 8, a fire broke out inside Denny’s on state Route 18 in Medina Township in the early morning hours.
• On Feb. 10, several fire departments responded to a serious barn fire at 7313 Beach Road in Sharon township.
• On Feb. 19, Brunswick Hills, Medina Township, Hinckley Township, Valley City and Strongsville Fire Departments responded to a house fire at 154 Substation Road in Brunswick Hills.
• On Feb. 21, A two-story house fire at 500 Bank St. in Lodi sent two people to Lodi Hospital, where they were treated and released for smoke inhalation.
• On Feb. 22, a Medina firefighter was injured in a house fire at 383 Bella Rosa Court in Medina. He was taken to Medina Hospital where he was treated and released after falling through a hole on the second story, injuring his head and shoulder.
• On March 7, Charles J. Ryder, 60, of 7038 Greenwich Road, died after his home burned to the ground in Westfield Township.
• On March 15, Brunswick, Brunswick Hills and Valley City Fire Departments responded to a condominium fire at 5252 Mill Creek in Brunswick Hills Township.
• On March 16, five fire departments responded to a blaze in downtown Wadsworth at The Sub Station restaurant. No one was injured.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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Brian Janusek, 42, holds family photos he recovered from the charred remains of a cabinet in his home in Brunswick Hills Township. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

The operation was only supposed to last a couple hours. But Kathy and Tom Miller ended up sitting in a waiting room at St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland for nearly 12.

It was a Feb. 11 appointment as they accompanied their daughter, Kim Anderson, who was having her third spinal surgery in two years to treat a degenerative condition.

The Millers, of LaGrange, arrived at the hospital at 8 a.m. Surgery was to begin at 11.

“The nurses said, ‘Kiss her goodbye because the doctors are waiting,’ ” Tom Miller said. “So we kissed her goodbye.” Miller said he and his wife went to lunch and came back around 1 p.m., thinking the operation would be almost over.

From left, Kyle Anderson, 11, Brian Janusek, Kim Anderson and Garret Anderson, 13, pose for pictures on Kim and Brian’s wedding day on Feb.15, 2014. (PHOTO PROVIDED BY MELANIE HETZEL)

But the patient status board said their daughter was still in a pre-operative stage. “There was a lot of anxiety,” he said. “And we were just wondering what the heck was going on.”

When the surgery finally began, it took five hours. And that was the start of “three weeks of hell” for Anderson, her husband, Brian Janusek, and her two sons.

At about 6 p.m. the day of the surgery, a doctor came out to tell the Millers that Kim, 39, was discovered to have an abdominal aortic aneurysm, an enlarged area of the body’s major blood vessel.

“We just looked at each other in amazement and just thought about our poor girl,” Miller said. “We’re religious people. We pray, and you have to believe in a higher power when something like that happens.

“It was scary because that’s my baby — my youngest daughter,” he said.

The doctor explained that the plan was to proceed through Anderson’s side for the spine surgery. But a change in plans resulted in going through her stomach — and that led to finding the mass.

“We don’t know the answer to why they changed their plan,” Miller said. “Divine intervention, maybe? We don’t know, but if they had gone through her side, they probably never would have found the aneurysm.”

The Millers kept listening and learned more details. The doctor explained that when the aneurysm was discovered, a cardio thoracic surgeon was called to assess whether it could be removed.

“The doctor was just in amazement himself that they found an aneurysm and that the cardiovascular guy was able to go in and do those repairs under so much stress,” Miller said.

That stress was understandable — the doctor said it was the largest aneurysm he said he had seen in 34 years of practicing, according to Anderson.

“They were going to just close me up and let me know what happened,” Anderson said. “They were worried that if they operated, it would burst, and I would bleed out on the table. Even a sneeze could have potentially burst the aneurysm.”

Anderson said later she was told that the doctors debated what to do. She also was told the cardio thoracic surgeon, Dr. M. Hani Khaddam, decided if they closed her up without the surgery, she would die and if they operated, she would die.

“I was going to die either way,” Anderson said. “Dr. Khaddam said, ‘She’s too young for us not to try.’ ”

The decision to attempt to remove the aneurysm saved her life.

“They put some sort of clamp on each side of it, cut it out and put surgical mesh on,” she said. “I ended up having two surgeries that day because after they got the aneurysm out, they went forward with the spinal surgery.”

Anderson was asleep through the procedures. After the surgery she spent several hours recovering in intensive care.

The next day, the doctors told her about the aneurysm.

“When they explained it to me, I was just overwhelmed and I just cried and I thought about my kids growing up without me,” she said.

She got out of the hospital Feb. 16 and stayed at her parents’ house so that her mom, who’s home most of the day, could care for her.
That first day home, she said Dr. Khaddam called to check on her and he told her about the decision he made to operate despite the risks.

“I just thanked him,” Anderson said. “Tears were streaming down my face, and it just really hit me emotionally.”

House fire hits

A stack of charred family photo albums stacked in Brian Janusek’s garage at his Brunswick Hills home. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

Anderson, a stay-at-home mom, said the surgery brought physical and emotional stress but events would soon compound it.

Three days after she left the hospital, her husband, Brian Janusek, 42, had picked up her 14-year-old son, Garret Anderson, in Brunswick to drive to Lorain County for a visit. He was on Substation Road, about to turn onto state Route 303 in Brunswick Hills, when a Brunswick City fire truck drove past him with lights and sirens blaring.

“I just blew it off like it was nothing because I see it all the time,” said Janusek, a firefighter for the Twinsburg Fire Department.

But then a neighbor called him with unexpected news — his house was on fire.

“I thought he was joking at first, but then I started putting everything together, like the truck passing us and how anxious he sounded on the phone,” Janusek said. “We turned around at a gas station and raced back to the house.”

He called his wife to tell her that the house was on fire and he had to turn around.

“At that point, I was thinking it was no big deal,” Anderson said. “But within minutes after he hung up, the Brunswick Hills Police Department called me to ask if anyone was inside the house.”

When Janusek arrived at 154 Substation Road, he could see and smell smoke.

“It’s one thing when we pull up to a fire, and we have work to do,” he said. “But to have to sit back and take it all in — I wanted to be involved, but it was overwhelming.”

A picture of Janusek and Anderson’s wedding day that survived a Feb. 19 fire is shown among the their home’s charred remains. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

Brunswick Hills Fire Chief Anthony Strazzo said the call came in about 8:55 p.m. from a passer-by that the house was on fire.

The day after, Strazzo said the cold temperatures and snow slowed down fighting the blaze and firefighters took turns warming up in the rescue squads. Brunswick,

Hinckley, Valley City, Medina Township and Strongsville departments provided aid until about 1 a.m.

Strazzo said that while the home was insured, the damage was about $150,000.

The fire was caused by a dryer, Anderson said.

“Rooms that didn’t get touched by fire were ruined by smoke and water,” she said. “All of my pictures were in the laundry room where it started and the same with Brian’s three-generation-old coin collection.”

But that wasn’t all that was lost. Anderson said her two sons’ pets died from smoke inhalation — Samson, an 11-year-old cat, and Spike, a 10-year-old lizard.

Anderson said Spike belonged to her younger son, Kyle Anderson, 12. He took to the social media network Instagram after the fire to express his grief.

“My cat died yesterday when my house burned down along with my lizard,” he wrote in a post. “You guys might say ‘It’s just a lizard,’ but I’ve had him since kindergarten.

“Not only did Samson and my lizard die, but a little part of my family did. Thank God my dogs and my family weren’t in that house,” Kyle wrote.

Homeless, hospitalized, hopeful

Three days after the fire, Anderson’s medical condition brought more challenges.

“My legs started hurting, but I ignored it at first,” she said. “I was losing my breath, so Brian took me to the ER for a CAT scan. They found blood clots in my lungs.”

Anderson had to be admitted to St. Vincent Charity Hospital for five days. Her treatment was Pradaxa, a blood thinner to relieve the lung clots, also known as pulmonary embolisms.

“The body will get rid of the blood clots on its own, but it could take weeks to months,” Anderson said. “If they dislodge, I could die.”

Anderson will be on the medication for months and requires special attention for the clots. For now, she’s staying at her parents’ house while she recovers.

“I’m aggravated right now because I’m a very hands-on person and I want to get up and do things,” she said. “But when I walk to the bathroom or to the kitchen, I can’t even breathe.”

Her greatest frustration is that the family is coping with life at three different homes.

Janusek is living at his mother’s house in Seven Hills in Cuyahoga County because it’s closer to his job in Twinsburg. During the week, her two sons are living in

Brunswick with their father, Gary Anderson.

“It’s a strain on all of us,” she said. “I’m only seeing my kids on the weekends.”

The four of them had moved into the Substation Road house in January 2014, a month before Janusek and Anderson married Feb. 15.

Anderson said after the salvage work is done, the home will be demolished and rebuilt.

In the meantime, insurance will only pay for an eight-month apartment lease. Anderson said that presents a challenge, too, because in Medina County most apartment rentals are for a full year. So everyone has been apart for 30 days now.

“At first it wasn’t that bad, but now we just need to get under one roof,” Anderson said. “I just want my family back together.”

Janusek said he marvels at the strength and composure that Anderson has shown through the ordeal. “She has been just so strong and an amazing woman.

“I’m trying to get the family back together, because right now we’re homeless,” he said.

Anderson said her strength has been bolstered by the support she’s received from family, friends and communities. She composed a heartfelt thank-you note and sent it to The Gazette, asking that it be made public because she felt overwhelmed by the generosity and well wishes of so many segments of the community.

Her sister, Jackie Gray, started an online fundraiser the day after the fire at www.gofundme.com/mud1m4, that raised more than $1,600.

“I felt so helpless,” Gray said. “I didn’t know what to do or say, and this was the only thing I could think to do to help her.”

A group called the Blue Pride Foundation in Brunswick collected gift cards for them, and Anderson said she received several cards from community members.

The Twinsburg Police Department also offered tax-deductible options for anyone who donated to the family.

“This was all within a week of the fire,” Anderson said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that.”

She said it wasn’t just adults showing support either. Her sons were constantly getting texts of support and messages on social media sites from classmates and friends.

“Garret said, ‘Mom, I never knew I had so many friends,’ because everyone was texting him support,” she said.

Anderson said as she regains her strength, she finds herself focusing on putting life back together — starting with getting the family back in their own home.

“We’re pretty light-hearted people, and we use comedy to get through our lives,” she said. “You have to laugh, otherwise you’ll just break down and cry.”

Contact reporter Katie Anderson at (330) 721-4012 or kanderson@medina-gazette.com.

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A semi rollover crash on Interstate 71 has closed the road south of state Route 18. (PHOTO COURTESY OF MONTVILLE TWP. POLICE)

The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Medina post is working a semi rollover crash that has crushed the front-end of another vehicle and closed Interstate 71 south of state Route 18 in Montville Township.

A dispatcher for the Medina post said the crash happened at about 7:20 a.m. He said it’s unclear whether there are any injuries at this time.

Check back later for more details.

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CINCINNATI — An Ohio woman has been indicted on charges she trafficked her 11-year-old daughter for heroin, and a man is facing rape charges and other counts in the case.

Thirty-year-old April Corcoran has been indicted on 27 counts, including human trafficking, endangering children and complicity.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said at a news conference Monday that Corcoran would take her daughter to 41-year-old Shandell Willingham in exchange for drugs, then leave her with him and come back later.

Willingham has also been indicted on 26 counts, including rape, gross sexual imposition and human trafficking.

Corcoran’s attorney, James Bogen, says he’s gathering the facts of the case. Court records list no attorney for Willingham.

Deters says the girl is now staying with her father and stepmother.

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The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has sued a Granger Township woman, alleging she fraudulently collected about $26,000 in unemployment benefits while she was working.

Nicole L. Jackson, 33, of the 900 block of Medina Road, allegedly worked for Dave and Buster’s while she collected benefits from 2008 to 2010. In addition, state officials argue benefits Jackson collected in 2010 and 2011 were invalid because leaving her job to pursue higher education was quitting “without just cause.”

State officials asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. Collier to order Jackson to pay back $47,940.56, which includes the total of overpaid benefits she received as well as more than $20,000 in interest.

Neither the state’s attorneys nor Jackson could be reached for comment. Jackson did not have an attorney listed in court records on Monday afternoon.

According to the lawsuit, Jackson collected weekly supplements from the state. When notified she had been overpaid, Jackson appealed the finding to the director of Job and Family Services.

The director affirmed the finding and ordered Jackson on Feb. 26 to pay back the money within 10 days.

“If payment is not made within 10 days after receiving this notice, this finding will be certified to the Office of the Ohio Attorney General to institute a civil action,” state officials wrote in a document mailed to Jackson’s home and included as an exhibit.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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The fire at this Jackson Street apartment building may be linked to another, smaller fire on Harmon Court that happened the same day. (GAZETTE FILE PHOTO)

Two fires in Medina on Friday may be linked and are being investigated, Fire Chief Bob Painter said.

The chief said crews were called to a small fire at 5 Harmon Court about 7:50 a.m., five hours after they arrived at an apartment complex fire at 235 Jackson St.

“We were on scene in both of them and some of the same players are involved in both,” he said. “We have our beliefs that they are connected.”

The state fire marshal’s public information officer, Lindsey Burnworth, disagreed with Painter.

“They are being investigated separately as of right now and the cause is still unknown,” she said.

Asked why the state’s report could be different from the city’s, Painter said the city believes the two to be linked and Burnworth “probably hasn’t received the report from her investigators.”

“We believe they are both linked and the state is investigating them,” he said.

Sixteen tenants living at the Jackson Street apartment complex escaped without serious injury. One woman was treated for smoke inhalation and released at the scene.

Painter said the Harmon Court fire was not serious.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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A Montville Township police sergeant is scheduled to stand trial today on charges that he negligently killed his canine partner by leaving him in his police cruiser on a hot day in September.

Brett Harrison

Sgt. Brett Harrison, who cared for the dog at home while off duty, lost two weeks of pay and a week’s worth of vacation time as discipline for the animal’s death. He remains an employee of the Police Department, where he has worked with no previous discipline since 2007.

Charges against Harrison are two counts of cruelty to animals, second-degree misdemeanors that carry up to three months in jail and $750 in fines each if he’s convicted.

Harrison’s attorney, Dominic Vitantonio, said the trial is expected to begin at 10 a.m. in Medina Municipal Court.

“We’re going to have a bench trial before the judge,” Vitantonio said, indicating his client had waived a jury trial.

The police dog, Beny, was found dead of heatstroke on the 80-degree afternoon of Sept. 28. Harrison acknowledged at a disciplinary hearing that he forgot to leave the air conditioning running while he went inside to file reports. He was inside for about four hours.

The department’s policy of leaving dogs inside running vehicles is common practice among police agencies in Medina County, according to a Gazette survey of departments with K-9 units.

Township police have maintained Beny’s death was an accident.

In a statement following the dog’s death, Harrison took full responsibility and expressed sorrow.

“I wish every day that I could go back and change that day or that I could put myself in your place,” Harrison wrote to Beny in the statement. “You will always be in my heart and I will miss you every second of every day.”

The department has since acquired a new canine, Roo, and has added measures in K-9 cruisers to monitor temperature to avoid a similar incident. Harrison is not permitted to care for the dog.

The charges against Harrison were filed by Sharon Township attorney Jeff Holland, who serves as prosecutor for animal cruelty cases worked by the Medina County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Holland said in October that Harrison could have been charged with a felony for “assault on a police dog,” but the charge required proof of recklessness. He told The Gazette the recklessness standard is more difficult to prove under Ohio law.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Five fire departments battled a blaze on Brook Road in Wadsworth on Jan. 6. (GAZETTE FILE PHOTO)

Nick Glunt and Andrew Davis | The Gazette

Fire chiefs across Medina County say frigid weather is to blame for a rash of structure fires that has plagued many parts of the county in recent weeks.

Eleven of the county’s 17 townships and three of nine municipalities have experienced serious fires since Jan. 1, causing one fatality, thousands of dollars in damage and displacing residents.

At least five of the 15 serious fires are suspected to have been caused by residents misusing personal heating devices.

“It’s largely attributed to the extreme weather we’ve seen. With really low temperatures, people are using fireplaces and heaters more than usual,” said Brunswick Hills Fire Chief Anthony Strazzo. “It’s not necessarily that they’re not being careful with those machines. It’s just that they’re being used more frequently, which in turn means there is an increased risk of them catching fire.”

In the first week of the year alone, three serious fires burned homes in the northwest portion of the county and another destroyed a barn.

Two of the four fires that week happened Jan. 5.

Officials said one of the fires, which consumed a barn at 5546 Erhart Road in Chatham Township, was caused by a wood-burning heater.

The cause is yet to be determined for a fire earlier that day that gutted a home on a $1.8 million estate at 7291 Stone Road in York Township. Officials said the blaze started near a fireplace.

Litchfield Township Fire Chief Jason Davis, whose department responded to both fires with mutual aid, said the cold likely contributed.

“This year there were definitely more fires, especially in this short time period,” Davis said. “Because of the cold winter, more people might be opting to use wood burners.”

The next evening, on Jan. 6, two small children escaped an accidental fire at 879 Brook Road in Wadsworth.

Carl Rommel, the city’s fire chief, said the department responded to two fires within city limits and several others as mutual aid.

“The Fire Department has been busy compared to other years,” he said.

The following day, a wood fireplace was blamed for a devastating house fire at 10348 Jones Road in Litchfield Township.

Moira Crabtree, the owner of the home, was in Medina for a doctor’s appointment when a fire that started in her chimney spread and leveled her home.

Though Lodi firefighters were not called as mutual aid to that blaze, Fire Chief Chris Ridenour said chimney fires are more common in conditions of wet weather, including snow.

“People are running out of wood to heat their house with and wet wood cakes up in the chimney and will eventually catch on fire,” Ridenour said.

Litchfield Township had its second fire of the year less than a week later, on Jan. 12, at 9401 Crow Road. A dog died in the smoke and flames, which firefighters said likely was caused by a short circuit in a heat lamp. That one took more than four hours to extinguish.

Wadsworth firefighters lost a Jan. 27 battle with a fire at a rural home on Yoder Road in Guilford Township. The home was a total loss. (GAZETTE FILE PHOTO)

Two weeks after that fire, a Guilford Township inferno claimed a home at 8465 Yoder Road. No one was injured.

By that time, Seville firefighters had battled two serious fires in southern Medina County. Fire Chief Jerry Winkler acknowledged there had been more blazes this year than previous years and suggested county residents should be cautious about heating their homes.

“I don’t know of any specific factors,” he said, “but people should be aware of portable heater safety.”

Only one minor fire — at Denny’s in Medina Township, caused by a short in the wiring to the diner’s neon lights on Feb. 8 — was reported until Feb. 10, when several firefighters responded to a serious barn fire at 7313 Beach Road in Sharon Township.

Twinsburg firefighter Brian Janusek, 42, holds family photos he recovered from the charred remains of a cabinet in his home in Brunswick Hills Township. (GAZETTE FILE PHOTO)

A little more than a week afterward, it became clear that even firefighters could become victims of adversity. A fire in Brunswick Hills Township started because of a clothes dryer and claimed the home of a Twinsburg firefighter. A cat and a lizard died in the blaze, but no people were hurt.

The firefighter’s 12-year-old stepson, Kyle Anderson, wrote on social media that the animals’ deaths were devastating.

“My cat died yesterday when my house burned down along with my lizard,” he wrote in a post. “Not only did Samson and my lizard die, but a little part of my family did. Thank God my dogs and my family weren’t in that house.”

Brunswick Fire Chief Jim Baird said his department responded to that fire and several others over the course of the year.

“It seems there have been a lot of fires. We’ve been on five that I know of either in our city or on mutual aid,” he said. “People are using their electric heaters more, lighting candles and building bigger fires in fireplaces.”

A two-story house fire at 500 Bank Street in Lodi sent a mother and son to the hospital on Feb. 21.

The cause of the fire was clear to the Lodi fire chief.

“It was because of the cold weather,” he said.

The mother and son were released from Lodi Community Hospital after treatment for smoke inhalation.

The home at 383 Bella Rosa Court in Medina was labeled a total loss after a fire engulfed the first-floor garage and a vehicle in the driveway. (GAZETTE FILE PHOTO)

The next day, a house fire in Medina sent one of the county’s firefighters to the hospital for the first and only time since the plague began.

Command called “mayday” after the firefighter fell through the second-story floor above the garage at 383 Bella Rosa Court while battling the flames.

He was treated for head and shoulder injuries at Medina Hospital and then released.

Firefighters suspected a parked vehicle in the garage was the source.

About two weeks later, the rash of fires claimed its first and only life: that of 60-year-old Charles J. Ryder, in a blaze at 7083 Greenwich Road in Westfield Township.

The fire turned the home to rubble. Officials said they suspected it was caused by a cigarette interacting with an oxygen tank.

Then two fires occurred back to back a week later.

On March 15, three departments responded to a condominium fire at 5252 Mill Creek in Brunswick Hills Township.

The next day, five departments battled a blaze in downtown Wadsworth that damaged The Sub Station restaurant in the city’s historic district. No one was injured.

The most recent fire, at a Medina apartment complex at 235 Jackson St., is the only one of the 15 serious fires that officials say they’re investigating — along with a more minor fire earlier that day — as possible arson.

One other fire — the Stone Road fire in January — was ruled an arson, but that ruling was retracted the following day. The investigation is ongoing.

Litchfield Township’s Davis said residents should be diligent to avoid becoming the 16th victim.

“People should have chimneys clean and working smoke detectors,” he said, “and you might want to make sure you have a household fire extinguisher.”

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.
Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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Larry Gore Jr.

A Brunswick man rushed into a FirstMerit Bank branch on state Route 82 in Columbia Township Tuesday morning and made off with an undisclosed amount of money, according to Lorain County sheriff’s deputies.

Lt. Heath Tester said Larry Gore Jr., 47, entered the bank about 10:45 a.m. and ordered everyone there not to move. He said Gore then jumped over the counter and began shoving money into a bag.

Gore, who was wearing a Halloween mask and a black hooded sweatshirt, fled the bank, but the vehicle he used to escape was described to deputies.

Tester wrote in a news release that a Medina County deputy spotted the vehicle about 15 minutes later and pulled it over.

The release stated that money stolen from the bank and other evidence linking Gore to the robbery was found in the vehicle.

Gore, of the 3100 block of Hartwick Circle, is charged with two counts of robbery. He was being held at the Lorain County Jail in $10,000 bond Tuesday night and is due in Elyria Municipal Court at 9 a.m. today.

Tester said the robbery remains under investigation.

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Montville Township police Sgt. Brett Harrison and his attorney, Dominic Vitantino, react to the judge’s verdict. Harrison was convicted of cruelty to animals in the death of his canine police partner, Beny, who died in September after he was left in a vehicle for four hours on a hot day. (NICK GLUNT / GAZETTE)

A Montville Township police sergeant was convicted Wednesday in the death of his K-9 partner that died after being left in a cruiser for four hours on a hot September day.

Medina Municipal Judge Dale H. Chase fined Sgt. Brett Harrison $500, but opted not to punish him with jail or probation.

Harrison had waived a jury trial, so Chase made the ruling. Harrison was convicted of a misdemeanor count, alleging he failed to provide the dog with shelter from the heat, but the judge acquitted Harrison of a second charge alleging he “needlessly killed” the animal.

Harrison could have faced up to three months in jail and $750 in fines.

Attorneys and the judge acknowledged during the trial that lasted about 3 ½ hours there was no dispute that Harrison violated department policy when he failed to leave the vehicle’s air conditioning running. The case hinged on whether Harrison’s actions were negligent.

In deciding Harrison’s guilt, Chase said he disapproved of criminal negligence laws, which require prosecutors in certain cases to prove defendants exercised a “substantial failure of due care.”

“I’ll be honest: I’m not a big fan of criminal negligence, but the Legislature has decided it’s necessary in the law,” Chase said, explaining that he’s required to interpret the law regardless of whether he agrees with it.

Montville Township police Sgt. Brett Harrison testifies during his trial on Wednesday. (NICK GLUNT / GAZETTE)

Police Chief Terry Grice said Harrison would remain on the force, as he was already punished by losing two weeks of pay and a week of vacation time.

“If it was a felony, it’s in the policy that he would lose his job, or if he was convicted of other misdemeanors that would preclude him from carrying a firearm,” Grice said. “We did our administrative review and hearing, so this one was up to the criminal justice system.”

The sergeant’s attorney, Dominic Vitantonio, said after sentencing that he and his client were disappointed, but respected the decision.

“It was a tough decision to make, but someone had to make it,” he said. “This was a tragic decision that Brett will have to live with. He can’t suffer any more than he already has with losing Beny.”

Beny, the dog, lived with Harrison and his family while off duty. The dog was well-behaved and loved by the family, according to undisputed testimony.

At trial Wednesday, Harrison testified that he did not realize he forgot to leave the air conditioning running even though he had thought about it on his drive in to work because it was 70 to 80 degrees that day. He never said why he forgot.

According to his testimony, Harrison arrived at the department just before 11 a.m. on Sept. 28 and saw Montville police Chief Terry Grice and another officer talking in the parking lot. He approached the officers after parking his car — careful to position the vehicle so the sun wasn’t beating down into the back, where Beny’s kennel was located — and chatted for almost 25 minutes before going inside.

Special Prosecutor Jeff Holland, appointed to the case by the Medina County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, questioned how Harrison could not have realized the car wasn’t running while he talked nearby for so long.

“I wasn’t listening,” the sergeant said.

Harrison, who joined the force in 2007 and became certified as a dog handler in 2013, had been promoted to sergeant a month before Beny’s death. That day, he completed several of his new administrative duties, including approving reports and answering questions from the four or five patrol officers he managed.

“I had a lot of paperwork lined up, so I was going to be spending quite some time in the department,” he said.

The sergeant only realized he’d forgotten to keep the cruiser running when he returned at almost 3:30 p.m.

“I got out there and went to the back door to check on him,” he said.

“What happened?” Holland asked.

“He was dead.”

As depicted on security video played at trial, Harrison immediately panicked at the discovery. He ran around the vehicle, opened the back, then hurried inside to get help. While other officers tried to revive the dog, Harrison succumbed to emotion and fell to his knees. Finally, he retrieved a bucket of water to pour on the dog to help revive him.

“You thought you could save him,” Holland said. “You didn’t think he was dead.”

In this photo, Montville Township police Sgt. Brett Harrison poses with his K-9 partner, Beny. (PHOTO PROVIDED)

“I knew he was dead. I just didn’t know what else to do,” Harrison said. “I was in a panic, and people do strange things in panic — anything to make things different.”

Holland stressed during the trial that he never wanted to imply Beny’s death was intentional.

“The defendant made a careless mistake. There’s no one saying he intended to hurt the animal, and there’s no one saying he’s not broken-hearted about it,” Holland said. “I’m sure he loved that dog, but that’s not a defense.”

During closing arguments, Harrison’s attorney said the judge should acquit his client because the facts were similar to a 2002 case in Medina County in which a grand jury chose not to indict a man whose 9-month-old son died after being left in a car for three hours on a hot day.

“Substantively, there’s no difference in that case and this case,” Vitantonio told the judge. “What the grand jury did in that case is what should be done here.”

The prosecutor rebutted that a grand jury and a judge serve different roles in the legal system: a judge interprets the law and, in this case, renders a verdict, while a grand jury decides whether to bring charges.

Vitantonio said the judge should acquit on the charge alleging Harrison “needlessly killed” Beny.

“There’s no legal definition of ‘needlessly kill,’ ” Vitantonio said. “Going by a dictionary definition, I think ‘kill’ means there was intent behind the action.”

The judge did acquit on that charge.

Harrison was the only defense witness called. The prosecution called only one witness as well: Paul Shaughnessy, who trained Harrison to handle Beny. He runs a company in Hiram in Portage County that provides training and certification for police departments in handling dogs.

Shaughnessy said K-9 police dogs are tools for departments and are viewed as police officers.

“It’s a tool, but a living, breathing tool,” he said. “You look at your dog as your partner, and you are to care for him.”

Shaughnessy said the K-9 training is an intensive, six-week course that officers attend five days a week for eight hours each day.

Montville Township and Medina police chiefs Terry Grice and Pat Berarducci watch the trial with about a dozen other police officers. (NICK GLUNT / GAZETTE)

Harrison’s attorney asked Shaughnessy what he thought of the sergeant during training.

“I thought he was an outstanding student. It was a pleasure to have him in class,” Shaughnessy said. “We routinely have officers who do not pass the class, but that was never an issue for Brett.”

The dog trainer said it is standard practice to leave dogs inside vehicles while an officer is inside the department, as long as the temperature in the vehicle is regulated. He added that leaving dogs in vehicles is not considered cruel because the dogs feel safe and comfortable in surroundings that are similar to a kennel.

Since Beny’s death, Montville Township police have acquired a new canine, Roo, and added measures in K-9 cruisers to monitor the temperature inside automatically. Harrison is not permitted to care for the dog.

Harrison could have faced felony charges in the case for “assaulting a police dog,” but the prosecutor said the felony charge required proof of recklessness, a standard more difficult to prove than negligence.

Holland, the prosecutor, said during trial that the case was difficult because he respects the work police officers do. However, he said officers aren’t immune from the law.

“Law enforcement officers have to obey the law too,” he said. “It’s not about throwing stones at people who were irresponsible. It’s about holding people accountable.”

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Security footage from the Speedway gas station, 1160 Akron Road, in Wadsworth shows a man demanding money from the two store clerks.

The Gazette

Wadsworth police are searching for a man who robbed a Speedway gas station with a rifle early Tuesday evening.

According to a Wadsworth police press release the man entered the filling station, 1160 Akron Road, at approximately 8:41 p.m.

He is described as white, in his mid-twenties and under six-feet tall with reddish-blonde hair. At the time of the robbery the suspect had a scarf covering the lower half of his face, a tan jacket, blue jeans and gloves on hands.

He was carrying what appeared to be a rifle wrapped in an Ohio State jacket.

The suspect took an undisclosed amount of cash before fleeing in a maroon vehicle, possibly a Chevrolet Cavalier, according to the release.

Any information on the aggravated robbery or potential identification of the suspect can be forwarded to the Wadsworth Police Department at (330) 334-1511, (330) 335-2769 of wadsworthpd@gmail.com.

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Jeffery Turner

A Cleveland man present at the scene of the Jackson Street apartment fire last Friday has been arrested and charged with retaliation and aggravated burglary, both third-degree felonies.

Medina police Sgt. Brett McNabb said Jeffery Turner, 29, is considered a possible arson suspect by police after a witness placed him at the scene.

“We know that he was at the scene of the Jackson Street fire prior to it occurring, but can’t nail that he was at the other fire,” he said. “We are not at this point stating that he is connected to the fires.”

McNabb said police are waiting for reports from the state fire marshal’s office on the cause of the 235 Jackson St. fire. It occurred shortly before 2:41 a.m. last Friday.

There was a fire on Harmon Court that day and both are being investigated as arson.

“There may be a link to the fires,” he said.

McNabb said Turner made threats at the Jackson Street apartment complex toward a witness from a separate weapons case that involves Turner and dates to February 2014.

Turner pleaded guilty as part of a deal last August to a weapons charge that was a third-degree felony. He was sentenced to a year in prison and was credited with time previously served.

The witness was not a resident of the apartment complex, McNabb said.

Shortly after Turner allegedly made the threats to the witness, the Medina Fire Department was called to battle a blaze in the basement apartment on the east side of the building, McNabb said. It is not known whether Turner was still at the complex when the fire started.

Turner is being held at the Medina County Jail on $1 million bond.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina- gazette.com.

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A 75-year-old former Hinckley Township man was sentenced to 21 years in prison on Thursday for raping two young girls and a young man in his care.

James Selch

James I. Selch had pleaded no contest last month to charges of rape and gross sexual imposition, first- and third-degree felonies. He also was labeled a Tier III sex offender, meaning he will be required to register every three months with the Sheriff’s Office after his release from prison.

But his attorney, Kevin Ondrey, said it’s unlikely Selch will ever leave prison because of health issues.

“Whatever the sentence, this is going to be a life sentence for him,” Ondrey said. He had asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler for a 12-year sentence.

In asking for a reduced sentence, Ondrey said Selch never committed any crimes prior to the sexual assaults. He also said Selch was remorseful.

“He can’t take back what he did. He can’t take back the damage,” Ondrey said. “I do believe he is remorseful.”

Prosecutors had asked for the 21-year sentence that Kimbler levied.

County Prosecutor Dean Holman said he was satisfied with the sentence and thought justice was done.

“We asked for a 21-year sentence so this guy would be incarcerated for the remainder of his life,” Holman said, “because of the grievous offenses he committed against these children.”

County Assistant Prosecutor Michael McNamara said he asked for a hefty sentence because Selch’s crimes were unforgivable.

“Mr. Selch used and abused the most fragile and vulnerable people left in his life,” McNamara told the judge. “He used these people as sex objects.”

He said when Selch was questioned by detectives, the elderly man was forthcoming and said he “couldn’t resist” raping the three victims.

“The sort of person who cannot resist raping children deserves to spend the rest of their life in prison,” McNamara said.

The victims and their families were given the chance to speak before Selch was sentenced.

The first victims, two young women who told police last year they were assaulted in 2006 and 2007 when they were 8 and 10 years old, said they were deeply affected by Selch’s actions.

One said she and her sister were taken from an abusive home as children so they could live with an adoptive family. Selch was related to the adoptive family.

“I remember having to pick food out of the trash so we could eat,” she said. “Being adopted was the best thing that ever happened to me.

“But James Selch decided to continue my misery.”

She said Selch was a “master manipulator,” so she didn’t come forward until she was older.

“I hate him for what he did,” she said.

Her sister said Selch was a “monster.”

“As a child, I kept confusing his love with his sick needs,” she said. “I hate it, but I think I still love him. I don’t know if I’ll ever fully stop.”

She said the ordeal was terrible because Selch was a member of the family.

“I think one of the hardest things about this was trying to understand how someone who claims they love you could do something so evil,” she said.

The sisters’ adoptive father also spoke.

“We trusted him implicitly with no idea how evil he was,” the man said. “We took them to his house without trepidation, unaware we were taking them to hell.”

He said both girls suffer from suicidal thoughts and self-harm as a result of the abuse, explaining that their pain is especially upsetting because he and his wife promised the sisters no one else would hurt them when they adopted them.

“This is what our lives consist of now,” he said.

The mother of the third victim, an unrelated young man with a developmental disability, said Selch took her son in after being vetted by the Medina County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

“We were assured he would be safe,” she said, “but we realized after just a couple months that something was wrong. It was just a mother’s intuition.”

The male victim revealed Selch raped him in October and November 2009.

She said her son still has nightmares about what Selch did.

“He stole these people’s lives,” she said, urging the judge to give Selch a harsh sentence.

The judge said a long prison sentence was appropriate to protect the public from Selch and to punish him.

“Mr. Selch, you see how much harm you’ve caused these people,” Kimbler said after hearing from the victims. “Is there anything you’d like to say?”

“I’m remorseful and sorry this happened,” Selch told the courtroom. “I pray at night for everyone involved in this.”

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Two Morrow County men have been arrested in connection with a series of break-ins at animal shelters across Ohio, including one in Medina County.

The Norwalk Police Department in Huron County released this still of the burglars, captured by security cameras at the Huron County Humane Society. (PHOTO PROVIDED)

James Blankenship, 29, of Mount Gilead, and Corby Creech, 36, of Cardington, were charged last week with breaking and entering, a fifth-degree felony.

The charge comes out of Morrow County, where the first break-in was reported in early January.

Medina County sheriff’s Capt. Ken Baca said the pair is suspected of at least 14 other break-ins at animal shelters across the state.

“They were charged in Morrow County and we’re trying to decide where to go from here,” Baca said. “It will be decided whether they’ll be charged in each county or if they’ll be charged under RICO for a continuous course of criminal conduct.”

If they’re charged under RICO — the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act — Blankenship and Creech would be tried in one county on all charges related to the break-ins.

Baca said the decision on how to proceed would be made in early April.

Since the Morrow County break-in, at least 14 shelters have reported burglaries — some happening in the same night.

In most cases, only electronics, checks and petty cash were reported stolen. In other cases, shelters said pharmaceutical narcotics and more than $1,000 were stolen.

The latest reported break-in was on Feb. 27. The known counties that were struck, in order of break-in: Morrow, Logan, Knox, Ashland, Delaware, Hancock, Seneca, Wayne, Medina, Huron, Madison, Champaign, Muskingum, Hardin and Washington.

Animal shelter managers reacted angrily to the burglaries in interviews with The Gazette earlier this month, questioning why thieves would target places they said already struggle financially and do not have many valuables.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Shelli Reed got a call from her mother just after 11 p.m. March 16.

Shelli and Matt Reed pose with their children, from left, Nathan, Gabe and Kailie, in a doughnut truck they operated as a family last summer. (PHOTO PROVIDED)

It was bad news. The sandwich shop in downtown Wadsworth — a 35-year family enterprise — was on fire.

“I got in my truck and drove uptown and when I got closer, I could tell it wasn’t a minor thing,” Reed said. “There were fire trucks everywhere and the street was blocked off.”

The Sub Station at 126 Main St. in the historical district was destroyed.

Now Reed and her family are trying to regroup and think about the future.

“It was horrible, just devastating,” she said. “I feel like it’s still just a bad dream.”

Reed’s mother, Stephanie Jones, owned and managed the business when it began in 1980.

“She’s really strong,” Reed said. “She’s probably been handling it better than I am because she’s a tough lady.”

Reed said the shop’s long history makes it a “local trademark” in Wadsworth.

“We all grew up going there,” she said, choking back tears. “My kids worked there.”

Reed said her mother contemplated closing the restaurant when family health issues arose.

“It was getting to be too much for my mom,” Reed said. “She thought about closing but we said, ‘You can’t close it.’ ”

So, Reed and her husband, Matt, took over in February while working their own full-time jobs. She is a nurse practitioner and he is in sales.

Her mother had two employees who worked daytime hours. Reed and her husband were transitioning to take over after their day jobs.

“That was the plan,” Reed said. “We were going to work it on the side and go there at 4 p.m.”

Now the fire has changed everything.

“We weren’t even open,” Reed said. “We’re closed Sundays and Mondays.”

Reed said she had dropped off groceries earlier that Monday.

“We still don’t know what caused it,” Reed said. “It may have been an electrical thing, but we were also told that rags with kitchen grease and chemicals can randomly combust.”

Reed said the building was not insured.

According to the Medina County auditor’s website, the property, valued at $86,790, has been in the Ritzman family since the 1980s as part of a family trust. Jeffrey E. Ritzman was listed as the trustee in 2001.

Reed said she does not yet have a dollar amount of estimated damage.

“There’s nothing salvageable in the kitchen,” she said. “There’s smoke damage in the apartments upstairs and in the building next door.”

She said several friends and family members plan to go inside today to rip up carpeting and look at salvaging dining room equipment.

“People have been really kind,” she said. “All of the positive messages people are sending really help us out.”

Scott Zander, a Wadsworth resident, started a fundraiser at www.gofundme.com/pgswgw.

“My wife and I read the story and saw they needed the help — other people suggested they (start) a fund raiser,” Zander said in an email. “I decided to just make the GoFundMe page for them and help them out as they had plenty … to handle.”

Zander wrote on the page encouraging people that every bit of support helps.

“Even if they can’t reopen we can at least help them in their time of need,” he wrote on the page.

Within the first three days, it raised $1,500.

Reed is hopeful that customers eventually will be able to come back.

“We’d love to get it up and running again,” she said.

Contact reporter Katie Anderson at (330) 721-4012 or kanderson@medina-gazette.com.

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The Medina County OVI Task Force announced it will conduct a sobriety checkpoint tonight in Montville Township.

The checkpoint, in conjunction with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, will be held st 9 p.m. in the 3400 block of state Route 18, east of River Styx Road.

Checkpoints are funded by federal grants, and police are required by law to release their locations in order to avoid violating Fourth Amendment search and seizure protections.

“Citizens of our county continue to be injured and killed as a result of impaired drivers on our streets and highways,” said Brunswick police Lt. Brian Ohlin, who also serves as commander of the OVI Task Force. “OVI checkpoints are designed to not only deter impaired driving, but to proactively remove these dangerous drivers from our roadways.”

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Jarrod Kallis

A Westfield Center man was arrested Thursday on a charge that he robbed a Speedway gas station in Wadsworth while armed with a rifle.

Jarrod M. Kallis, 35, is charged with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 11 years in prison. He is being held at the Medina County Jail while he awaits arraignment.

Kallis was arrested at his home in the 6900 block of Greenwich Road.

Wadsworth police Lt. Rob Wyrick said the public deserved thanks in identifying Kallis after security footage from the robbery was published in local media.

“This action resulted in the quick identity and apprehension of this dangerous criminal,” Wyrick said.

Kallis is accused of holding up the Speedway at 1160 Akron Road about 8:41 p.m. Tuesday.

He had a scarf over the lower part of his face and carried what appeared to be a rifle wrapped in an Ohio State University jacket.

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Two people have been arrested and charged with leaving a dead Medina Township man’s body in a Wayne County oilfield last week.

Wayne County Sheriff’s Capt. Doug Hunter said the pair who were arrested — Virginia Dininger, 32, of Litchfield Township, and Matthew Miller, 32, of Wooster — reported they found Nathaniel Abshire, 22, dead the morning after an evening of drinking and using drugs at Miller’s home.

Virginia Dininger Matthew Miller Nathaniel Abshire

Hunter said the pair told detectives they drove to the oilfield the next night and dropped Abshire’s body by an access road, about 300 yards off Armstrong Road in rural Canaan Township. The oilfield is about nine miles from the home.

Abshire’s body was not discovered for more than two days.

“For us, the case started on Wednesday shortly before noon,” Hunter said, “when two oil-well workers contacted our office and said they located a dead body.”

Deputies at the scene discovered Abshire’s body had no identification and showed no signs of trauma. They shared photos of the man’s tattoos on social media and found his name from community members.

“At the same time we were dealing with the discovery of the body, the victim’s grandmother was reporting Mr. Abshire missing to Medina Township police,” Hunter said. “He was reportedly last seen with Dininger, so we went out and questioned her.”

Dininger told investigators what happened, Hunter said, and she and Miller were arrested.

Both are charged with gross abuse of a corpse, a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 1½ years in prison.

The charge is somewhat misleading, the captain said.

“The charge means they moved the body from where it was found and transported it to another location and left it out in the elements,” he said. “We have no reason to think they mutilated the body or anything of that sort, which is what I think people immediately think of when they hear the charge.”

Dininger and Miller are being held at the Wayne County Jail awaiting Abshire’s autopsy. The cause of death has not been determined, and Hunter said more charges could be filed based on the results of the autopsy.

Services for Abshire were Monday evening at Waite & Son Funeral Home in Medina. His aunt, Chantell Abshire, created an online fundraiser to pay for funeral costs. Figures listed on the website showed it had raised more than $2,300 of its $7,000 goal as of Monday.

“Our family could really use some help,” she wrote on the fundraiser page. “If you can help out in any way we would appreciate it.”

To access the fundraiser page, go to www.gofundme.com/pzrz5w.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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