Man convicted of having sex with teen

YOUNGSTOWN — After deliberating four hours, a jury convicted a 37-year-old city man of 13 counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor for having consensual sex with a girl starting when she was 14.

Brian P. Matthews, 37, of Argo Street, could be sent to prison for five years on each of the 13 counts when Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentences him later.

Matthews worked at the Canfield-area farm where the girl lived and became like a “surrogate family member,” the girl’s stepmother testified this week.

The relationship went on for about 18 months before an employee at the farm found the girl’s diary in her backpack containing descriptions of the encounters and told the girl’s stepmother about it.

The girl’s father later notified authorities, triggering an investigation by the county sheriff’s department and Mahoning County Children Services.

The diary described sex acts the two engaged in between December 2005 and May 2006, when the girl was 15. Matthews was indicted on additional charges that were not described in the diary dating back to Aug. 1, 2004, when the girl was 14. She is now 17.

The girl’s stepmother said the girl became “depressed and despondent” when she learned the diary had been turned over to police.