COLUMBIANA COUNTY Man to be sentenced for raping 9-year-old

If the judge accepts the plea deal, a 15-year prison term would be imposed.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- An East Liverpool man who has pleaded guilty to raping a 9-year-old boy is scheduled to be sentenced April 13.
The same man was acquitted three years ago in a case involving the rape of mentally disabled men.
Tony Hooper, 42, of Gaston Place, pleaded guilty Wednesday to rape before Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.
Hooper, being held in the county jail awaiting sentencing, also pleaded guilty to a related charge of gross sexual imposition.
In exchange for the guilty pleas, prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 10 years for the rape and five years for gross sexual imposition, said assistant county Prosecutor Tim McNicol.
The recommended sentences are the same as the maximum sentences for those crimes, McNicol said.
Charge dropped: The plea deal also included a provision in which prosecutors dropped an allegation that force was used in the rape. The maximum penalty for rape with a force specification is life imprisonment.
If accepted by Judge Pike, the recommended sentences would be served consecutively, giving Hooper a total sentence of 15 years.
Hooper engaged in sexual activity with the boy at Hooper's home July 26.
The victim was a neighborhood boy who told his mother about the assault.
In March 1997, Hooper was indicted on six counts of rape. Authorities said he repeatedly raped two disabled men who were residents of a group home in Wellsville where Hooper was a caregiver.
When he was tried in August 1997, the jury acquitted him.