2 sentenced for endangering kids

AUSTINTOWN — Two of the four people charged with allowing five children to live in a filthy township home with no running water have been sentenced to jail terms.

Boyd Kopsic, 34, and Jason Webb, 27, pleaded guilty Monday to one count each of child endangerment.

Judge David D’Apolito of Mahoning County Area Court here sentenced Kopsic and Webb to 180 days in jail (120 of those days were suspended), 24 months of probation and required each to pay a $500 fine. Their jail sentence took effect Monday afternoon.

Michelle Banks, 26, will be tried on one count of child endangerment at 10 a.m. Oct. 17.

Jeannette Banks, 54, was charged with complicity. Her pretrial hearing was set Monday night, but no details were available by press time.

Kopsic is the father of four of the children, and Webb and Michelle Banks are the parents of one of the five. They all lived together at 212 Westminster Ave. with five other adults.

The house is owned by Jeanette Banks, the children’s grandmother. Police found the children while they were searching the house for stolen goods the morning of June 21.

According to the police report, there were no diapers for a 7-month-old girl and two of the other children, both 2-year-old girls, were lying in their own urine. The other children are 7 and 10.

Police contacted the Mahoning County Health Department and county Children Services, which took the children.