Struthers child rape case bound over to Mahoning Court court
By Sarah Lehr
STRUTHERS
The case of a man police said sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl has been bound over to a Mahoning County grand jury for further consideration.
Devante Corinaldi, 21, of Youngstown appeared in Struthers Municipal Court on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing. He was arraigned Dec. 23.
Corinaldi is charged with rape, a first-degree felony.
Struthers police arrested Corinaldi on Dec. 21. He is purported to have forced a 6-year-old girl to perform a sex act on him. Corinaldi, a friend of the girl’s family, was baby-sitting at the time of the incident, police said.
Swabs from Corinaldi’s genitals tested positive for saliva, though the city is still waiting for DNA results from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification to determine whose saliva it was, according to testimony from Detective Jeff Lewis.
Lewis said Corinaldi denied sexually assaulting the girl when questioned by police.
A Mahoning County Children Services abuse-intake professional who had interviewed the child testified the child said she was making a trap to catch Santa Claus when Corinaldi forced her to perform the sex act.
Judge James R. Lanzo determined there was probable cause to believe a crime had been committed. The judge bound over Corinaldi’s case to the grand jury and continued Corinaldi’s bond at $500,000. Corinaldi is in the Mahoning County jail.