Saturday, June 28, 2003
The former Greenville woman also will serve time in Pennsylvania.
SHARON, Pa. -- Linda J. Karlen won't be getting out of an Ohio prison early.
An Ohio Parole Board panel reviewing her case Tuesday has recommended that she complete her entire 15-year sentence for conspiracy to commit kidnapping in the June 1988 murder of Roger Pratt in Akron.
The recommendation must now be signed by the parole board chairman, and that is expected to happen within a week, a board spokeswoman said.
Her sentence is up in January 2005.
Karlen, formerly of Greenville and Sharon, was denied parole in December 1999, but she was granted a rehearing based on an Ohio Supreme Court case that challenged the parole board guidelines in rating offenses.
The panel had its review hearing at the Ohio Women's Reformatory at Marysville, where Karlen is incarcerated.
Must serve another term
Once she is released from Ohio, she will be turned over to Pennsylvania authorities to begin serving a five-to 10-year sentence for arson in the May 1988 arson fire of a Greenville furniture store in which she was a partner.
Authorities said Pratt was lured from his home in Munhall, Pa., to Akron and killed because Karlen and others believed he would implicate them in the arson fire and other crimes in Greenville.
Two Tiltonsville, Ohio, brothers are serving long prison terms in Ohio in connection with Pratt's death.
Edward Swiger, 39, is serving 40 years to life for aggravated murder and kidnapping. Michael Swiger, 35, is serving 21 to 53 years for involuntary manslaughter and kidnapping.
Both men are also facing prison time in Pennsylvania for guilty pleas in the furniture store arson once they are released from Ohio.