COLUMBIANA COUNTY 2 men in chat stings set in court Thursday

Both men have the same court-appointed attorney.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST PALESTINE -- Two suspects in Internet stings will appear Thursday in Columbiana County Municipal Court in East Palestine, New Waterford Police Chief Dan Haueter said.
A preliminary hearing for Michael Black, 54, of Taylorsville, Ky., will be at 1:30 p.m. Arraignment for Michael Resann, 45, of Goshen, Ind., is set for 2 p.m.
Both are in Columbiana County Jail, each on $1 million bond.
The preliminary hearing for Black was scheduled for Tuesday, but was postponed.
Haueter said both men are charged with attempted sexual conduct with a minor, a fifth-degree felony; and importuning, a fourth-degree felony.
The court appointed Atty. Eric Kibler as defense counsel for both men.
Arrests made
Haueter arrested Resann on Valentine's Day after the Indiana man drove nearly 300 miles in about five hours for a meeting he thought would be with a 15-year-old girl.
Resann pulled his company van onto a dead-end New Waterford street and was met instead by police. Resann brought a teddy bear police had asked for, and also a video camera, a Valentine card, a necklace and a bottle of body lotion, Haueter said.
Black was arrested Jan. 30 when he drove to a fictitious New Waterford address Haueter gave him.
Black brought a teddy bear Haueter had asked for, a digital camera and a laptop computer. Black had said in the chat-room conversations that he and the 15-year-old girl he thought he was communicating with could view pornography using his laptop computer, Haueter said.
Posed as teen girl
In both cases, Haueter said he posed as a 15-year-old girl and conversed several times with the men in Internet chat rooms.
Haueter said Black agreed to drive to New Waterford for sex and arranged the meeting, nearly 400 miles from Black's home.
Haueter said he had been corresponding with Resann for several weeks, posing, along with the East Palestine officer, as a 15-year-old girl. He said they then worked hard on the case in the week before Feb. 15 to set up the meeting.
Haueter said to set up the meeting, Resann gave a calling-card number over the Internet and times to call him, then talked to the female officer.