Trumbull judge sentences three on different crimes

Trumbull judge sentences three on different crimes

TRUMBULL COUNTY

Judge sentences 3 in separate cases

WARREN

One man was sentenced to 11 years in prison Wednesday for a violent robbery, another got five years’ probation for securities fraud, and a woman received a four-year prison term for shooting her husband at their Vienna Township home.

Todd Smith, 25, of West Gate Drive in Braceville Township, received an 11-year prison term from Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary, two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of felonious assault in a March 14, 2013, robbery in Arhaven Mobile Home Park.

Smith and Gina C. Little, 19, of Akron and Smith’s address on West Gate Drive, were charged after police said they broke into a neighbor’s mobile home wearing masks and demanded money and drugs.

During the robbery, Smith stabbed Jamie Stein, 33, seven times, causing serious injuries, and stabbed Timothy J. Wagner, 31, at least once, police said.

Little pleaded guilty in June to two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of aggravated burglary and was sentenced to three years in prison.

David B. Zuppan, 52, of Malibu Drive in Lordstown, was sentenced to probation, ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution and spend 30 days in the Trumbull County jail for three counts of securities fraud.

He will be granted work privileges while serving his jail sentence and must pay $500 per month toward the restitution.

If he fails to meet the terms of his probation, he could be sentenced to three years in prison.

The Ohio Department of Commerce said Zuppan received funds from investors in exchange for investments in his companies, Columbia Polymers Inc. and Hydrolock Basements Inc., which market a system to prevent water intrusion into basements.

But Zuppan did not inform the investors that their funds would be used to buy salon services for his wife, a wedding gift for his niece, college tuition for his daughter and payment for his personal debt to the Internal Revenue Service.

The investment offering also was never registered with the Division of Commerce, the agency said.

Zuppan committed to the crimes, and the value of the fraud was $50,000, the Ohio Department of Commerce said.

Judge McKay also sentenced Brooke Hoffman, 39, of Warren-Sharon Road in Vienna, to four years in prison for shooting her husband, Craig Hoffman, 34, in the thigh and shoulder with a Tech 9 firearm, which looks like a small machine gun.

Brooke Hoffman pleaded guilty last month to improperly discharging a firearm in or at a home and felonious assault.

Police said she drove a 1991 Camaro around the back of their home on Warren-Sharon Road in June 2012, firing once at the house, then crashing into a motorcycle belonging to her husband, then entering the house.

Inside, she fired the gun at him once, hitting him, then they struggled over the gun, causing the gun to go off and graze Brooke Hoffman in the back of the head.

Police said she was angered by a text message from her husband suggesting three-way sex involving her, her husband and another woman.

In searching the house, police found numerous firearms, crack cocaine, powdered cocaine, drug paraphernalia and other items used in the sale and manufacture of drugs.

In a statement to the court Wednesday, Craig Hoffman said he forgives his wife.