Part-time Canfield firefighter enters guilty plea

Staff report

CANFIELD

A part-time firefighter with the Cardinal Joint Fire District agreed to a plea deal for allowing his 2-year-old son to wander off into traffic with his pants down to his ankles last month.

Neil P. Cornelius, 36, of Tippecanoe Road in the township, appeared Tuesday for his hearing in Mahoning County Area Court in the city and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of child endangering.

Judge Scott D. Hunter fined him $500, suspended a 180-day jail sentence, and placed him on two years’ probation.

Cornelius has been on unpaid administrative leave from the fire district after his arrest in July on the child-endangering charge.

The leave is unpaid because as a part-time firefighter Cornelius would get paid only when he was scheduled to work or called out, district fire Chief Don Hutchison said last month.

Mahoning County deputies arrived at Cornelius’ township home in the 5100 block of Tippecanoe Road about 8:05 p.m. July 18 after receiving a report about a child walking in the street.

According to a sheriff’s report, once there, deputies found the boy’s mother who told them she had found the boy’s father, Cornelius, passed out at a desk from drinking.

That night, Cornelius staggered out of his home and smelled of alcohol to talk with deputies.

He gave differing accounts of the last time he saw his son that day, first saying 3:30 or 4 p.m., and then writing 6:30 p.m. in his statement.