New Waterford chief nets 6th man in sting

EAST PALESTINE -- A 55-year-old Gallia County man is in the Columbiana County jail after a weeklong undercover Internet investigation by New Waterford police showed he was on his way to the county to have sex with a teenage girl.
New Waterford Police Chief Dan Haueter said Patrick H. Cumston of Vinton, Ohio, appeared Thursday before Judge Mark Frost in the Columbiana County Municipal Court in East Palestine. Cumston faces felony charges of attempted sexual conduct with a minor and importuning. Judge Frost set bond at $500,000 on each charge.
Cumston is the sixth man arrested by New Waterford police on those charges since Jan. 30. Judge Frost has said the charges carry possible penalties of six to 12 months in jail and up to a $2,500 fine for the fifth-degree felony charge of importuning, and six to 18 months in state prison and up to a $5,000 fine for the fourth-degree felony charge of attempted sexual conduct with a minor.
Haueter said Cumston, who is retired, drove about five hours from Vinton on Wednesday and arrived in New Waterford about 10:45 p.m., expecting to meet a 14-year-old girl to have sex with her.
Haueter posed as a 14-year-old girl in an Internet chat room and said he had been in contact with Cumston for about a week.
"He said he wanted to get together because he was bored," Haueter said. "He definitely was looking to have sex. I didn't ask him to bring anything. He brought two laptops, a digital camera, a package of condoms and Viagra."