Nine life terms plus 75 years for rapist

YOUNGSTOWN — A Campbell man convicted of 16 counts of rape and nine counts of gross sexual imposition against two juvenile female relatives was sentenced to nine consecutive life prison terms — plus 75 years.

Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the prison time on John E. Wolff Jr., 31, of Notre Dame Drive, Wednesday after overruling defense motions for acquittal and for a new trial.

A jury convicted Wolff of the offenses on Aug. 20 at the end of a six-day trial. “The evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s verdict,” the judge wrote in her judgment entry overruling the defense motions.

“The defendant committed the worst form of the offenses by preying on young girls,” Judge Sweeney said before imposing the sentence, which included nine consecutive life terms, one for each count of raping the first girl while she was under age 13.

Speaking for herself and the other victim, the first girl, now 15, told the judge: “We want to set it right. We want to put somebody away who hurt two little girls and who doesn’t need to hurt anybody else.”

For more, see Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com