Man gets 10 years for child sex

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A judge sentenced a 58-year-old Austintown man to 10 years in prison after a jury convicted him of two counts of gross sexual imposition against a girl who was age 7 and 8 when the offenses occurred in his residence in 2008 and 2009.

On Wednesday, Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed maximum consecutive prison terms of five years on each count on Eugene C. Ross Sr. of New Road, who will be on parole for five years after prison.

Ross was convicted of lesser-included offenses within the two rape charges for which he was tried. Had he been convicted of either rape charge, Ross would have faced a life-prison term.

As a sex offender, Ross will have to register his whereabouts with the sheriff every six months for 25 years after he leaves prison.