Two get jail time in Struthers branding case

By Joe Gorman

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Judge Lou D’Apolito told three people standing before him for participating in the branding of a Struthers teen last August that they were the ones acting like teenagers.

D’Apolito told the three adults just before they were sentenced Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that the reason laws are made to protect children is that children do not always exercise the best judgment. On the night they took part in branding the 17-year-old, Judge D’Apolito said they were the ones who acted like children.

“You three acted as if you were the minors,” Judge D’Apolito said.

Sentenced to nine months in the Mahoning County jail and three years’ probation was Brian Pryjma, 39; sentenced to six months in the jail and two years’ probation was Ronald Bier, 36; and sentenced to a year of probation and a 30-day suspended jail sentence was Laurie Lyden, 47. All three are from Struthers.

All three pleaded guilty April 27 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 three were 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 Pryjma’s Wilson Street home in Struthers, 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 police reports.

Kocak, of Boardman, was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty in November. He did the actual branding, Judge D’Apolitio said.

All three expressed regret for their roles that night and apologized.

“I’m going to have to rebuild,” said Lyden, who was a clerical employee at the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office before she was arrested for the incident.

“In this whole case, I’ve let down my whole family,” Pryjma said.

“I’ve shamed my wife and shamed my kids,” Bier said.

Assistant Prosecutor Shawn Burns recommended local jail time for Pryjma and Bier and probation for Lyden, because none of them has a criminal record, but he said punishment is necessary because of the injuries inflicted.

“Not once did one of these adults stand up and say, ‘Should we be doing this?’” Burns said.

Neither the victim nor his family was present in the courtroom.