Youngstown boxer guilty of felonious assault

Wesley Triplett lost his cool and should be punished, the prosecutor said.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — A super heavyweight Golden Gloves boxer has pleaded no contest to felonious assault in the punching of a fellow basketball player, who suffered a broken jaw and was knocked unconscious.

Wesley Triplett, 22, of Dearborn Street, entered his plea Monday before Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who found him guilty of the Sept. 2, 2007, offense, which occurred at the former South High School Fieldhouse.

The 6-foot-61‚Ñ2-inch Triplett punched Dr. Matt Gugliotti, a family practice resident at St. Elizabeth Health Center, with a closed fist after fouling the doctor during a league basketball game, said Martin P. Desmond, assistant county prosecutor.

The doctor suffered brief memory loss, headaches and dizziness. His broken jaw was wired shut for a month, Desmond added.

Triplett, who remains free on $25,000 bond, could get two to eight years in prison when Judge Evans sentences him at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 21. However, Desmond said he would not oppose a two-year probation for Triplett.

Desmond said he wants Triplett to undergo anger management counseling and perform community service.

Triplett played basketball at The Rayen School, from which he graduated in 2004, and he has no prior criminal record. The Ohio Adult Parole Authority will perform a pre-sentence investigation.

“It’s just an unfortunate situation. He’s not a bad kid,” Triplett’s lawyer, Ron Knickerbocker, said after court.

“He’s someone who, I think, got caught up in the heat of the moment. What he did is bad. He has to be punished for it,” Desmond said after court. “Had it not been for the injury sustained by the doctor, this would have been a misdemeanor,” Desmond added.