Hostage taker gets 23 years on unrelated charges

WARREN

Though he has not been charged in the April hostage-taking of a Trumbull County jail corrections officer, Richard G. Ware is paying the price for it.

On Tuesday, Judge Andrew Logan sentenced Ware to 23 years in prison as punishment for three separate crimes, each involving robberies with a weapon.

Ware, 27, of North Leavitt Road, pleaded guilty in August to three counts of aggravated robbery and one count of felonious assault. He could have gotten up to 44 years in prison.

Several months ago, Ware was offered a plea agreement that would have resulted in a 10-year prison term, but prosecutors revoked that offer after Ware was accused in the hostage incident.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has completed its investigation of the hostage incident, but no charges have yet been filed.

Ware and the two other inmates are accused of holding a corrections officer hostage for five hours with a plastic knife.