Thursday, September 30, 2004
He also pleaded guilty to charges stemming from child pornography pictures.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A former Lowellville varsity football coach and teacher, imprisoned for having sex with a student, was granted early release today.
Anthony Panici, 37, of West Wood Street, was sentenced in October 2003 to a three-year term by Judge Maureen A. Cronin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
He had pleaded guilty to five counts of gross sexual imposition for having sex with the girl in 1999. She was a 14-year-old Lowellville student and cheerleader.
Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Krueger said the girl consented to sex with Panici, but it was still illegal because he was an adult and she was a juvenile.
Pleaded guilty
Panici also pleaded guilty today to attempted pandering obscenity involving a minor. Judge Cronin sentenced him to four years in prison but ordered that it run concurrently with the time he's already spent in prison for the other charges. She also granted him judicial release on those charges.
While investigating the case involving the girl, police seized Panici's home computer and found several unrelated photographs involving child pornography, which led to the charges of pandering obscenity.
Panici's former attorney, Dennis DiMartino, had argued that the photographs were the result of an illegal search and should not be used against him, but Judge Cronin overruled him.
bjackson@vindy.com