NILES Man who threw semen on women gets 60 days in jail

Two victims attended the proceeding and said they were satisfied with the sentence.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- A Brookfield man will spend 60 days in the Trumbull County Jail after a judge found him guilty of throwing semen on women at the Eastwood Mall and surrounding stores.
Robert Leroy Gibson III, 38, of South Albright McKay Road, was charged with seven criminal mischief charges and one charge of aggravated trespassing, all misdemeanors. He was accused of throwing or spraying semen onto the women between August and November 2001.
A meek-looking Gibson, dressed in gray pants and pullover shirt, pleaded no contest to six of the criminal mischief charges and aggravated trespassing Friday morning in Niles Municipal Court.
"We're changing the pleas to no contest with the understanding that the court has sufficient facts to make a finding of guilty," said Atty. J. Walter Dragelevich, who represents Gibson.
Judge Thomas W. Townley found him guilty of the charges.
Judge Townley ordered Gibson to pay $100 in fines and court costs and to serve 60 days in jail on each charge.
The judge suspended all but 60 days of the sentence on the condition that Gibson have no contact with any of the victims and to stay away from the Eastwood Mall and Great East Plaza for three years.
The remaining criminal mischief charge was dismissed. Gibson is to begin serving the sentence within 30 days.
Dismissed charge: The mother of the victim in the first episode, an 18-year-old Orwell girl, has contended that Gibson wasn't the man who sprayed her daughter. The charge pertaining to that incident was the one dismissed.
Two victims attended Friday's court proceeding and said they were satisfied with the sentence.
"They had to do something," said one woman of Howland who was splashed while shopping at Target.
She said she's been concerned that Gibson has been free while waiting for the case to be resolved, afraid that he might commit a similar offense.
Both she and her two daughters, 10 and 14, are more cautious when they go to a store.
"I'm glad that he's going to serve some time," said another victim from Hubbard.
She followed the case in the newspaper and kept track of scheduled hearings by calling the court, she said. She was sprayed while shopping at Phar-mor and developed a rash afterward.
"I'm very happy with the sentence," she said.
Her husband, who accompanied her to the hearing, also indicated he was satisfied with the sentencing although he would have liked him to serve more time.
Facing more charges: Gibson also faces criminal mischief charges in Warren and Girard municipal courts, accused of splashing women at stores in Howland and at Phar-mor in Liberty.
Dragelevich said he hopes to have those cases concluded within 10 days.
Police identified Gibson from store video but waited to charge him until they received lab results from blood tests to determine if the fluid contained any communicable diseases. The presence of a disease could have elevated the charges to felonies.
What tests showed: Tests came back negative last December and tests completed last month confirmed that the DNA in the semen samples was consistent with that of Gibson. The women ranged in age from 17 to 41, and Gibson was accused of spraying at least one woman twice on the same day in the same area of the mall.
Some of the women were shopping with their children. Some were with their husbands but were separated at the time Gibson is accused of tossing the semen, which he kept in a spray bottle or a 35 mm film canister.
State Sen. Timothy Ryan, D-32nd, of Niles, is sponsoring legislation to make it a felony for a person to throw or spray semen on another person. The bill would make the offense punishable by up to a year in prison under the state's sexually oriented harassment law.
"We're just glad that it's over," said Capt. Ken Criswell of Niles police.
dick@vindy.com