Wise gets year in jail for previous violence, endangering case

Trumbull County Children Services visited the boy July 22 and found no physical abuse.

WARREN — Damion C. Wise of Brookfield Township, charged with felonious assault and child abuse involving his 8-year-old stepson, went to courts in Brookfield and Warren on Thursday — and has spent a fair amount of time in court in Pennsylvania over the years.

Wise, 30, appeared Thursday morning in Trumbull County Eastern District Court, where Judge Ronald Rice sentenced him to one year in the county jail on charges of domestic violence and child endangering for a June 20 episode.

Police said Wise held a knife to the neck of his wife, Celinda Wise, 28, and threw an object through the window of her car while the couple’s 3-month-old son was inside.

Celinda Wise said her husband’s actions occurred as she tried to leave their Everett East Road home after an argument.

Later Thursday, county Common Pleas Judge Peter Kontos accepted an innocent plea from Damion Wise to two felony charges — felonious assault and child endangering. Judge Kontos set bond at $250,000 on those charges, which were handed up by a Trumbull County grand jury Wednesday. If convicted on these, he could spend another 15 years in prison.

The latest charges relate to Wise’s arrest Saturday after police went to the Everett East home and found his stepson with bruises and medical problems that the boy said the stepfather caused.

Authorities say the family moved into the Everett East rental house about four months ago, having come from the Erie, Pa., area.

Wise has a criminal record in Pennsylvania dating to 1998, when he was 19, court records show.

His most recent criminal case was from November 2007, when he was convicted of disorderly conduct for fighting, a misdemeanor, in Venango County, Pa., which is halfway between Pittsburgh and Erie. Wise lived in Erie at the time. His punishment was to attend a class, Alternatives to Violence.

In 2001, he pleaded guilty to theft by deception, a misdemeanor, in Venango County. He pleaded guilty to false imprisonment in Forest County the year before that, and a judge combined sentencing on the two. Wise spent some time in jail, but court records do not indicate how much time.

Charges of kidnapping to inflict injury/terror and stalking/intent to cause emotional distress were withdrawn by prosecutors in 2000 when Wise pleaded guilty to false imprisonment.

Wise said nothing in common pleas court or afterward when deputies led him back to the Trumbull County Jail.

Meanwhile, Marcia Tiger, director of Trumbull County Children Services, said her agency was not contacted in June when Wise was charged with endangering his baby’s safety by throwing a rock through the car window.

The agency was not aware of that episode, she said, and had no contact with the Wise family until July.

Celinda Wise contacted the agency July 14 to describe a problem involving the 8-year-old that had nothing to do with Damion Wise, Tiger said. The boy showed no signs of physical abuse when a caseworker visited the home July 22 in response to the call, Tiger said.

“He appeared to be in good health,” Tiger said.

The boy was taken to Akron Children’s Hospital on Saturday for treatment of his injuries but has since been returned to Trumbull County and is in foster care, as is his baby brother, Tiger said.

Tiger noted that her agency has been overwhelmed by calls from people wanting to know whether they can provide toys or gifts for the boy, but she would prefer that no additional offers be made at this time.

“We will meet his needs,” she said.

In an interview with police Saturday, the boy said his stepfather made him spend many hours alone in the yard while his parents cleaned the house. His mother said she didn’t realize the seriousness of her son’s injuries because her husband did not allow her to be around the boy.

Neighbors saw the boy in the yard a lot, but they thought it was loneliness or autism, not abuse, they said.