MERCER COUNTY Sharon man gets prison for arson

A father was sentenced to probation for breaking his son's ribs when he squeezed the infant to stop his crying.
MERCER -- A Sharon man was sentenced to 31/2 to seven years in prison for setting fire to his ex-girlfriend's home.
John Anthony Reed, 34, of Loraine Street, Sharon, was given the term Tuesday by Judge Francis Fornelli of Mercer County Common Pleas Court for the July 10, 2001, arson of a residence at 2014 Mercer Ave., Hermitage.
Reed, who had threatened the woman earlier that evening at a Brookfield, Ohio, bar, forced his way into her home with a container of gasoline, then poured gas throughout the apartment and ignited it. The fire destroyed her apartment and the house.
No people were injured in the fire, but the woman's dog was killed. Reed was also given consecutive prison terms of three months to one year for resisting arrest and one to three months for public drunkenness for hitting a Sharon police officer in the head with a bag of beer bottles Oct. 25 in a Sharon alley.
Other cases: Also sentenced Tuesday were:
UJames Ritts, 20, of Coal Bank Road, Greenville, and Matthew Shacklock, 21, of South Good Hope Road, Greenville; each sentenced to five years in prison for the Oct. 11, 2001, armed robbery of the Last Minit Mart, 62 W. Main St., Greenville. They got $58 cash and a Dolphin UPC scanner. A case is still pending against a third man charged in that robbery.
UCraig Burger, 33, of the Sharon Hotel, Sharon; three years' probation for stealing and forging checks totaling $1,055.
UNikki Dungee, 19, of Orchard Street, Sharon; three years' probation for felony robbery for snatching a purse from a woman in the Shenango Valley Mall Parking lot, Hermitage, Aug. 14, 2001. Cases are pending against two others charged in the case.
UJames Hinds Jr., 19, of Pittsburgh; consecutive two-year probation terms for a January 2001 burglary of a Pine Township business at which he got $89 in checks and $560 cash and a Dec. 20, 2000, burglary at a Pine Township home.
UThomas Martino, 20, of George Street, Hermitage; five years' probation for endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. Last June 15, he squeezed his 2-month-old son so hard to stop him from crying that he fractured five of the child's ribs and bruised his face. The baby required emergency medical treatment and spent two days in the hospital. He was placed in foster care and now lives with an aunt. Martino and his wife are allowed to visit the baby and have been ordered to get counseling. Martino had told authorities he had just lost his job and was under a lot of stress.
UMalcom Norman, 27, of Wallis Avenue, Farrell; two years' probation for recklessly endangering another person, a misdemeanor, for firing a .44-caliber handgun in the restroom of a Farrell bar.
UArthur Norris, 29, of Baldwin Avenue, Sharon; six months to two years less one day in the Mercer County Jail for felony statutory sexual assault for having intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in Sharon. He was given credit for 30 days already served.
UCalvin Winchell, 24, of Nimick Street, Sharon; sentenced to six to 231/2 months in jail for simple assault, a misdemeanor, for shaking the 3-year-old daughter of his girlfriend at a South Irvine Avenue apartment.
UKenneth Woodward Jr., 34, of Orangeville Road, Sharpsville; two years' probation for passing $1,188 worth of bad checks in January and February 2001.