Carny worker convicted of sex crime

YOUNGSTOWN — A jury found Jermaine A. Jones guilty of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in connection with his encounter with a 14-year-old girl at the Canfield Fair.

The jury deliberated for almost 2 1/2 hours at the end of a 2 1/2 day trial before rendering its verdict Wednesday afternoon before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Jones, 31, of Orchard Grove Avenue, East Liverpool, faces one to five years in prison on the third degree felony charge. No sentencing date was announced.

Prosecution witnesses were the victim, a nurse, three sheriff’s deputies and two agents of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. Jones, a children’s carnival ride operator, was the only defense witness.

The victim told police she met Jones at the fair on Sept. 1, and Jones took her to his bunkhouse, where the sexual activity occurred. The girl identified Jones when police walked with her around the fairgrounds the next day. Jones told police that the girl said she was 18 and that she consented to the sex act.