YOUNGSTOWN Rapist gets 23 years for attack on teen girl

Mark Parker raped the girl at gunpoint and threatened to kill her young cousins.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mark Parker said he was insane when he broke into a house just down the street from his own, shut off the electricity and raped the 15-year-old baby-sitter at gunpoint two summers ago.
His insanity plea didn't hold up, and Thursday the 27-year-old East Ravenwood Avenue man was sentenced to 23 years in prison by Judge Maureen A. Cronin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Made no statement
Parker politely answered questions from Judge Cronin, but made no statement to her or to the victim's family before the sentence was imposed. He waved to his family and shook hands with one of his former attorneys as deputies led him out of the courtroom to begin his sentence.
Dawn Krueger, assistant prosecutor, said Parker broke into the East Ravenwood house through a basement window Aug. 8, 2000. He cut power lines so the electricity would not work, raped the girl in an upstairs bedroom, then left her lying naked and crying, Krueger said.
The girl, from Twinsburg, later told police that her attacker threatened to kill her if she screamed. She was not in court for sentencing.
Terrorized kids
Three young girls, ages 7, 5 and 3 at the time, were also in the house. Parker told the girls, who were the victim's cousins, that he would kill them if they did not stay in a downstairs TV room, Krueger said. Authorities found them there, huddled and crying.
Prosecutors said Parker had visited the house earlier that day to ask for a bandage for his son, who lived nearby and had cut his finger.
Parker was arrested the next day after neighbors and a 5-year-old boy identified him as the man they'd seen near the victim's home.
A grand jury indicted Parker in 2001 on charges of rape, aggravated burglary and four counts of kidnapping. Parker pleaded innocent by reason of insanity, but two court-ordered psychiatric evaluations showed he was competent to stand trial.
In May 2003, he pleaded guilty to the rape and aggravated burglary charges and one count of kidnapping. The other three kidnapping charges were dismissed in exchange for his plea. He also pleaded guilty to using a firearm, which added a mandatory three years to his prison term.
He was supposed to be sentenced in July, but it was postponed because he'd just gotten a new attorney who had not had time to review the case.
Atty. Charles Curry was originally appointed to defend Parker, but withdrew from the case in June 2002 and Atty. Jeffrey Limbian was appointed.
Limbian represented Parker for the plea, but had to step aside before sentencing because he had in the meantime been hired as an assistant county prosecutor. Atty. Mark Lavelle was appointed to represent Parker for sentencing.
Limbian was in the courtroom Thursday to watch the sentencing. Parker stopped and shook his hand on the way to prison.
A hearing will be within three weeks to determine Parker's status as a sex offender. That will determine how long after his release from prison he must register his whereabouts with authorities wherever he lives.
This isn't Parker's first trip to the penitentiary. According to Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records, he served a one-year sentence for theft and was released in June 2001. That case also was from Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
bjackson@vindy.com