Three plead guilty in Struthers branding case

By Joe Gorman

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Three people charged with branding a Struthers teen last August entered guilty pleas Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Laurie Lyden, 47; Brian Pryjma, 39; and Ronald Bier, 36; each pleaded guilty to a charge of endangering children, a fourth-degree felony and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor.

Pryjma and Bier also pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault, a fourth-degree felony.

The child-endangering charge that all three were indicted on originally was a second-degree felony, but prosecutors agreed to amend it to a fourth-degree felony in exchange for the guilty pleas. The aggravated assault charges for Pryjma and Bier were amended from felonious assault, which also is a second-degree felony.

Sentencing has not yet been set.

Prosecutor Shawn Burns said he is recommending a term of probation to be determined by Judge Lou D’Apolito for Lyden, and a term of incarceration or alternative sentencing for Pryjma and Bier, also to be determined by the judge.

“These adults should have known better,” Burns said.

The three are charged with heating the lid of a snuff can and also using martial-arts darts to brand the teen, then 17, on his buttocks at a Wilson Street home in Struthers that Burns said was the home of Pryjma, then giving the teen marijuana and pain pills.

The father of the victim told police his son was held down by Pryjma, Bier and a third man, Andrew Kocak, 33, and branded after he lost a bet over the consumption of moonshine-soaked cherries. Lyden purportedly videotaped the incident. Those involved then supplied the boy with drugs.

The 17-year-old suffered third-degree burns and had skin-graft surgery to heal the open wounds. He also had a blood infection that could have resulted in death had it gone untreated, according to the report.

Kocak, of Boardman, was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty in November.

Lyden was a former clerical employee of the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.