SMITH TOWNSHIP Police say drug conviction preceded prostitution charge

The case is expected to go to the grand jury.
BELOIT -- A 33-year-old Smith Township man charged with compelling prostitution had been previously convicted of corrupting a minor after selling marijuana to the same 14-year-old girl involved in the latest charge, police said.
Chief John P. Slimak said Harold E. Simones of 1005 Lake Park Blvd. in Tecumseh trailer park in the township was ordered by Mahoning County Court in December 2000 not to have contact with the girl, a West Branch Junior High pupil who lives in the same trailer park.
He said Simones is charged with compelling prostitution and a probation violation. He is free on $7,500 bond.
Slimak said Simones will have a pretrial hearing in the next two weeks and he expects the case to be bound over to the grand jury.
Police were led to the girl's house during an investigation of drug possession by some West Branch junior high and high school pupils that began last week, Slimak said. Police found a note from the girl in which she asked a friend what she thought about her having sex with Simones.
The girl told police even though she knew Simones was not to have contact with her, he had been calling her. She said he asked her to have sex with him for $200, then a week later said he would pay her $500 and forgive an $80 debt to him for marijuana she had bought.
In the note the girl told her friend "I said no, but I really need the money," and "He will give me $500. I could buy a lot of weed."
Questioned man: Slimak said that when police questioned Simones, he was unaware of the court order. He said he picked the girl up at school once at her request, and has talked to her three or four times on the phone since December, most recently about three weeks ago.
Simones told police there had been talk of sex in exchange for money, but he said the girl told him she would pay him $200 for it.
Simones said his sexual discussions with the girl involved her telling him about her boyfriends and him telling her she shouldn't have sex at such a young age.