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Tutor gets eight years in prison for felonious assault
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A county judge went above a prosecutor’s recommended sentence when deciding how much prison time a man should receive who was convicted of paddling a student for giving wrong answers.
Judge Shirley Christian of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Friday sentenced Ericulo Henderson, 59, of Oak Hill Avenue, to eight years in prison on a charge of child endangering, a second-degree felony.
A jury convicted Henderson on June 5 of felonious assault and two counts of child endangering, but all the counts were merged into one child-endangering charge for the purpose of sentencing because they all were part of the same conduct.
Jennifer McLaughlin, an assistant county prosecutor, had recommended six years in prison, saying that prison is necessary because Henderson took advantage of a position of trust. She said he betrayed both the boy he was tutoring, who was 11 at the time, and his mother, because of his conduct.
The victim’s mother also said Henderson deserved to go to prison. She said her son was having trouble adjusting to a new school when she found out about Henderson, who said he had mentored other students.
The woman said she feels horrible because she put her son in a position to be hurt.
“I felt like he [Henderson] was someone I could trust,” the victim’s mother said. “I feel I let my son down.”
She also said she is afraid there are more victims because Henderson at one time said he tutored about 40 children.
Henderson’s lawyer, Michael Gollings, asked for probation, saying his client has no prior criminal record, already has spent 93 days in jail and is sorry for what happened.
“He’s shown great remorse for what happened,” Gollings said.
Henderson did not have much to say, but he did say the injuries the victim suffered came from a right-handed person and if tests were done on how the injuries were administered, they would show Henderson did not cause them because he is left-handed.
Judge Christian said a long prison sentence is necessary because Henderson violated the trust of the victim and his mother, was in a position of authority and abused that position when he committed the crimes.