Worker gets three years

The man admitted the probation violation and apologized.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A seasonal city employee will spend three years in prison after admitting that he violated the terms and conditions of his probation.
James Bowers, 26, who has addresses on Hudson and Delaware avenues, was indicted this week on theft in office. He is accused of running up $425 in calls to a dating serving on a Pemberton Park telephone.
That offense is alleged to have occurred in April and May while Bowers was on probation for other charges. Last September, he was convicted of three counts of attempted child endangering and received probation.
In a hearing Friday before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, Bowers admitted he had violated the terms of his probation.
J. Michael Thompson, an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor, reminded the judge that during Bowers' sentencing on the attempted child-endangering charges, the judge explained that if Bowers violated probation he'd be sent to prison.
Defense argument
Atty. James Vivo, representing Bowers, asked Judge Krichbaum to consider that Bowers completed the Community Corrections Association program and got a job. The latest charge of which he is accused is unrelated to the original attempted child-endangering charges, the attorney said.
In that case, Bowers, his girlfriend and three children had been living in a Youngstown house in February 2005 with no water or electric service and dog feces on the floor.
The judge said that he stresses when sentencing a defendant to probation that violating the terms results in prison.
"I'm proud to say that I'm a man of my word," Judge Krichbaum said.
Bowers was contrite.
"I tried my hardest to do everything right," he said. "I messed up. I apologize."
The judge referred to the calls to a dating service that Bowers is alleged to have made on a park telephone.
"It's something that should have been avoidable," he said. "It's something that's inexcusable."
The judge sentenced Bowers to one year on each of the three attempted child-endangering counts. He will get credit for 202 days he's already served in jail.
If convicted of the theft-in-office charge, Bowers faces six to 12 months in prison, a $2,500 fine, permanent disqualification from public employment in Ohio and forfeiture of pension benefits.