Man jailed without bond in rape case

staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — A Warren man remains jailed without bond after pleading innocent to aggravated burglary, rape, kidnapping and aggravated robbery charges in reported assaults last month on a Youngstown woman.

Michael A. Harsch, 24, of Fourth Street, entered his plea Tuesday when he was arraigned by Magistrate Timothy G. Welsh of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Welsh left the matter of bond to be determined by Judge Maureen A. Sweeney, to whom the case is assigned for trial June 15, and Welsh appointed Atty. James Melone to represent Harsch, who is indigent.

Noting that Harsch is facing a possible 80- to 90-year prison term, J. Michael Thompson, assistant county prosecutor, asked that Harsch be held without bond.

But Melone countered that Harsch is a lifelong Mahoning Valley resident. “Due to his indigency, he doesn’t have the means or ability to leave this area even if he wanted to,” Melone said.

“Not allowing him to post some bond would certainly be punitive,” and would deny him his constitutional right to bond, Melone added.

“Given the gravity of the charges that Mr. Harsch has been charged with, I’m going to order that the issue of his bond be referred to the trial court to whom the case is assigned,” Welsh ruled.

Harsch was indicted by a Mahoning County grand jury on 13 counts, consisting of three counts each of aggravated burglary and kidnapping, two counts each of rape and aggravated robbery, and one count each of being a felon with a gun, improperly handling a gun in a motor vehicle and failure to comply with a police order.

The charges stem from incidents in which the 23-year-old East Side woman was kidnapped at knife point from her residence March 18 and at gunpoint from the street near her residence March 23, authorities said.

Harsch was arrested and lodged in Trumbull County Jail on March 23 after he crashed the woman’s car at the end of a pursuit by the Ohio State Highway Patrol on state Route 82, police reports said.