TRUMBULL COUNTY Ex-jailer pleads guilty, had agreed to aid escape

A prosecutor is recommending the defendant serve four years in prison.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A former Trumbull County jailer has admitted agreeing to help a federal inmate escape from the jail.
Michael Battee, 35, of Warren, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count each of complicity to commit escape and dereliction of duty and seven counts of bribery.
He will be sentenced after a background check by the county adult probation department. He could face a maximum of 40 years in prison on all the charges.
Recommendation
Chuck Morrow, an assistant county prosecutor, said, however, that he will recommend that Battee serve four years in prison.
Battee also has promised to testify in the upcoming trial of his co-defendant Michelle Miller.
Miller, who quit her job as a jailer at the sheriff's department in September, is free on $50,000 bond. She has pleaded innocent to charges of bribery and complicity to escape.
Her trial is scheduled to begin Monday in the common pleas courtroom of Judge Peter Kontos.
Possible bribe
Officials say Miller and Battee may have been bribed by a federal inmate in the county jail who wanted to escape. The inmate said he would give the jailers $40,000 if they helped him escape, officials said.
The sheriff's department houses federal inmates on the jail's fourth floor. The inmate did not escape, officials said.
The sheriff said the investigation was handled by the FBI. John Kane, agent in charge of the Youngstown FBI office, said the agency is assisting the county prosecutor's office.
Battee's charge of dereliction of duty stems from his relationship with a woman who served time in the county jail, officials say.
sinkovich@vindy.com