YOUNGSTOWN Mother of 4 is found guilty

The woman already is on probation in Boardman.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Tonya D. Rushton will learn in December her penalty for leaving four children in a sweltering squalid house without food or water.
In a plea agreement worked out Thursday in Youngstown Municipal Court between Dana C. Guarnieri, assistant prosecutor, and Rushton's lawyer, Walter D. Ritchie, charges of animal cruelty, failure to confine a pit bull and failure to have liability insurance for the dog were dismissed.
Rushton pleaded no contest to four counts of child endangering. Judge Elizabeth Kobly found her guilty. The case had been set for a jury trial.
About the case
On June 25, Patrolman Dan Mikus and Dave Nelson, Animal Charity humane investigator, found Rushton's children -- three boys and a girl, ages 4 to 8 -- lying on a cockroach-infested floor watching television at 731 W. Indianola Ave.
The officer found broken windows, garbage, trash and urine-soaked mattresses inside the house.
A brown pit bull was in a room off the kitchen. The room, littered with trash and dirty clothes, had no food or water for the animal -- only yellow foam that he'd ripped from the couch, chewed and swallowed, Nelson said at the scene.
The starving and dehydrated dog had to be killed. Nelson said the animal would have suffered greatly from the foam in its stomach.
Dirty clothes, rancid food remnants, bugs, trash and more on the floors made walking difficult. The bathroom toilet didn't work but had still been used.
When arraigned, Rushton said the children shouldn't have been in the house.
Rushton, 30, faces up to six months in jail and $1,000 fine on each count of child endangering.
In response to Ritchie's request, the judge ordered a presentence investigation. Sentencing was set for Dec. 12.
Rushton told Judge Kobly that she is on probation to Mahoning County Court in Boardman. Ritchie said the county does not intend to consider the city conviction a violation of the probation.
Laura Burke, county probation officer, said today that a probation violation hearing would be scheduled in Boardman, based on the new conviction.
Earlier charge
In April, Rushton was charged in Boardman with receiving stolen property, a car. The charge was amended to unauthorized use of a motor vehicle June 24 and Rushton was found guilty, a court official said.
Judge Joseph Houser sentenced Rushton to 180 days in jail, suspended it in lieu of 40 hours of community service, and placed her on one year's probation.
The conviction happened the day before Rushton was arrested on the child-endangering charges in the city. Her arrest coincided with her birthday.
Ritchie said after court that Rushton's children are with her. He said everyone he's spoken to about his client has had good things to say.
meade@vindy.com