YOUNGSTOWN Inmate violated rules, officials say

One judge denied work release; another granted it.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Terrance V. Rudolph has violated work-release privileges and has been accused of terrorizing his ex-girlfriend again, records show.
Friday afternoon, his 20-year-old ex-girlfriend told police he ran her off the road on West Indianola Avenue into a carwash lot. The woman said she tried to avoid conversation about her plans to leave town when he opened her car door for a confrontation.
The woman notified Community Corrections Association, a halfway facility on Market Street, where Rudolph was incarcerated with work-release privileges. She told CCA he had violated a protection order that required him to stay away from her.
Sojourner House, a home for battered women, also notified CCA last week that Rudolph was harassing his ex-girlfriend, records show.
Richard J. Billak, chief executive at CCA, said the facility acted immediately to protect the woman. Billak said he was surprised that Rudolph, based on his history, was granted work release.
History of case
Rudolph, 30, of Mineral Springs Road, was arrested Friday evening at CCA, charged with a probation violation and taken to the Mahoning County jail.
His probation violation hearing is set for March 25 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
On Dec. 6, Rudolph was sentenced in common pleas court for his second domestic violence conviction. Judge R. Scott Krichbaum gave Rudolph two years' probation and ordered him to complete a six-month residential program at CCA, followed by supervised release.
He had beat up his ex-girlfriend April 30, and during the attack, she dropped her 2-month-old daughter. At the time, Rudolph had been in jail for two months, convicted of domestic violence and violating a protection order.
Municipal Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly granted him work release, which she withdrew after his second arrest on domestic violence charges.
On Dec. 11, Rudolph, convicted of violating another protection order three months earlier, was sentenced in common pleas court by Judge Robert G. Lisotto. The sentence imposed mirrored the one imposed by Judge Krichbaum
In effect, Rudolph was on double probation.
Rudolph was out on the streets Friday as a result of a motion his lawyer filed with Judge Lisotto on Dec. 20, seeking work-release privileges from CCA.
Lisotto granted the request.
A motion for work-release Rudolph's lawyer also filed Dec. 20 with Judge Krichbaum was denied.
Rudolph was supposed to leave CCA to work at EMS Plumbing & amp; Heating on Southern Boulevard. The owner could not be reached Wednesday.
Last April, as long as Rudolph returned on time to the Mahoning County jail each day after work, no one verified where he'd been.
Flawed system
The flaw in the inmates' work release "honor system," as Sheriff Randall A. Wellington described it, was exposed with Rudolph's arrest on charges of domestic violence, child endangering and violation of a protection order.
After that, CCA began to monitor jail inmates' work release.
Since then, two inmates have been charged with falsifying their work release applications.
One inmate left to work at an address on Belmont Avenue that doesn't exist. Another listed a business on South Avenue that had been closed for two months and, although he did contract work elsewhere, he also went to restaurants with his parents when he left the jail, which is not allowed.
meade@vindy.com