NILES Man pleads innocent in semen case

'With everything else that's going on in the world, we have to put up with someone doing this,' one victim said.
By DENISE DICK
and PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- After learning Ohio law provides for only misdemeanor charges against a Brookfield man accused of throwing semen on women, police plan to lobby area legislators to make such offenses felonies.
Robert Leroy Gibson III, 38, of South Albright McKay Road, pleaded innocent Thursday in Niles Municipal Court to seven counts of criminal mischief and one count of aggravated trespassing, all misdemeanors.
Gibson is represented by Atty. Walter Dragelevich.
Gibson, a husband and father, is accused of throwing semen on at least five women at Eastwood Mall and two others at stores in Howland.
Criminal mischief: Howland police filed a charge of criminal mischief Thursday in Warren Municipal Court. Gibson is expected to appear in court on that charge Monday, court officials said.
Niles police Capt. Ken Criswell said authorities plan on getting in contact with state Sen. Tim Ryan about a law to make it an automatic felony to throw bodily fluid on someone, regardless of their health status.
Ryan, of Warren, D-32nd, said he is familiar with Gibson's case and will be meeting with law enforcement officials soon.
"I do believe the penalty should be higher for something like this," Ryan said. "I want to talk to officers to find out what they feel would be fair."
Criswell filed the Niles misdemeanor charges after blood tests revealed that Gibson doesn't have communicable diseases that would increase the charges to felonies. Gibson voluntarily submitted to the testing.
Police expect results in four to six weeks of DNA testing being conducted by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification in Richfield to determine if the semen is from Gibson.
Linn Reese, criminal investigator for Dragelevich, declined to comment on the charges because the case is pending.
Gibson will return to court Feb. 6. The encounters occurred between Aug. 4 and Nov. 21. The charges filed in Niles Municipal Court address the offenses that happened in the city.
Bond set: Judge Thomas W. Townley of Niles Municipal Court set bond at $1,000 during Gibson's arraignment.
Some of the victims attended the arraignment.
A 31-year-old Hubbard woman was in Phar-Mor on Nov. 16 when she was splashed with the fluid. She said she turned around and looked right at the man she believed responsible. She developed a rash but initially didn't connect it to the encounter. She reported it to police this week after seeing news reports.
"I never would have guessed that's what it was," she said.
She panicked when she first learned it was semen and worried. Now she's angry.
"With everything else that's going on in the world, we have to put up with someone doing this," she said. "It makes me so mad that somebody would do something that sick."
Police identified Gibson from store video, which they say also captured him throwing the fluid, which he kept in a spray bottle or a 35mm film canister, on more women, but police don't know their identities.
"They were all young, attractive women," Criswell said "Some of them were with babies or young children. One of the babies was in a stroller, one was in a cart and one woman was with a little boy."
The victims range in age from 17 to 41. The mother of the 17-year-old Orwell woman also attended the arraignment, but the girl attended school instead. The Orwell victim, who is now 18, was the first police are aware of.
Howland Police Steve Lamantia said police believe the man threw semen at a woman at Super Kmart on Sept. 21.
"After this has hit the paper we received calls from two other women who believe they were also victims," Lamantia said. "We are investigating their cases now."
dick@vindy.com sinkovich@vindy.com