43
Candidate accused of child endangering
STRUTHERS
City police have submitted to the juvenile court prosecutor’s office a report that David Shaffer, the Republican candidate for Mahoning County clerk of courts, hit his 9-year-old son with a belt and a wooden spoon.
The police report, showing a tentative first-degree misdemeanor charge of child endangering while administering corporal punishment, says the incident occurred Sept. 14 and was reported to police Sept. 21.
Shaffer, 41, is listed by police as living at the Clingan Road residence where the beating purportedly occurred. He is challenging Democratic incumbent Clerk of Courts Anthony Vivo in the Nov. 8 election.
In an interview Wednesday with The Vindicator, Shaffer denied beating his son with a belt and a wooden spoon and said he “absolutely” will remain in the political contest.
“As far as I know, there were no criminal charges being filed,” Shaffer said, adding he believed the potential charge was withdrawn Tuesday.
Struthers Police Detective Emma Brenoel said, however, her investigation is complete, and she has sent all the information to Anissa Modarelli, the assistant county prosecutor assigned to county juvenile court, for potential further action.
Anthony D’Apolito, a magistrate and juvenile court administrator, said the prosecutor’s office is reviewing the matter.
The boy’s mother made a report to Struthers police after noticing a large bruise on her son’s buttocks and markings on his knees Sept. 18 as he prepared to take a shower in her residence.
She told police her son said Shaffer punished him because he did not wish to be with his father. He made the boy pull down his pants and hit him so hard the belt broke, she added.
The boy’s mother text-messaged a picture she had taken of her son’s injuries to Shaffer and asked for an explanation.
Shaffer replied that he had hit the boy with a belt and a spoon.
On Sept. 25, the 9-year-old gave Struthers police the same account of how and why he was injured during the scheduled visitation with his father.
The boy told police his father grabbed a wooden spoon from the kitchen to continue the beating after the belt broke.
On Sept. 27, Shaffer told police he did not believe he was using excessive force while wielding the belt and spoon.
Shaffer said his son spat in his direction, and he felt the boy needed to be reprimanded for his actions.
The boy was evaluated Sept. 28 by the Child Advocacy Center team at Akron Children’s Hospital that examines alleged victims of child abuse.
During an Oct. 5 custody hearing concerning his 3-year-old daughter in juvenile court, Shaffer lifted his shirt, showed the visiting judge his belt, and said: “This is the belt I hit my son with,” before multiple witnesses, Detective Brenoel wrote in her report.
Vivo and David Betras, the county’s Democratic Party chairman, declined to comment on the matter.
Mark Munroe, county Republican Party chairman, also declined to comment.
Jennifer Kollar, public information officer for the county Children Services Board, said confidentiality laws prohibit the child welfare agency from commenting on the case.
On his Vindicator candidate form, Shaffer listed his present employment as the Mahoning Valley Educational Initiative, but, in an interview, he told The Vindicator, as he had told Struthers police, he is unemployed and focusing on his campaign for office.
Shaffer said MVEI is a nonprofit organization he is starting and from which he draws no salary.
MVEI’s purpose will be to assist in expanding educational opportunities for inner-city youth and adults, he said.