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Niles man gets longest sex-crime sentence in Trumbull County history
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
David A. Messer, 29, of Niles, will spend at least 50 years in prison for raping a 7-year-old girl and committing other sex offenses against her — the longest prison sentence in Trumbull County history for a rape case.
Messer apologized to his family and the family of the victim before Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court sentenced him, and a family member of the girl’s said Messer deserved his long sentence because of what he did — “rape and terrorize the victim without pity or remorse.”
A prosecutor said the victim’s mother found memory cards for Messer’s phone that contained videos Messer shot of the rapes and other sex crimes that began when the girl was 7.
Messer pleaded guilty to two counts of rape that carried a sentence of 25 years to life each, and Judge McKay ordered that the sentences be served consecutively for a total of 50 years to life.
Messer also pleaded guilty to 10 other charges — multiple counts of pandering obscenity, gross sexual imposition, pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor and illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material or performance.
Diane Barber, assistant Trumbull Count prosecutor, said Messer could have actually gotten a longer prison sentence — life in prison without parole, which no Trumbull County judge has ever given.
Barber said the offenses occurred over the past year at two locations — homes on Sheridan and Vienna avenues in Niles — and that Messer took videos of some of the offenses in which Messer’s hand tattoos could be seen and his voice could be heard, as well as the child and her voice.
“He has done irreversible damage to the victim, and that is why I ask for the maximum allowed sentence,” the victim’s family member said, asking not to be identified for the girl’s sake.
Messer told Judge McKay he was not himself when he committed the crimes because he was on drugs.