Newton Falls man sentenced to 10 years in prison on kidnapping and attempted rape

Staff report

WARREN

Donald DeWees, 52, of Charleston Road, Newton Falls, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday after his March 1 conviction at trial on kidnapping and attempted rape.

Prosecutors say DeWees attacked a former girlfriend on a bike trail in Newton Falls on Aug. 5 while she was walking to meet her new boyfriend.

DeWees attacked the woman, dragged her into the woods, ripped off her clothes and assaulted her, said Gabe Wildman, an assistant county prosecutor.

The woman kicked DeWees in the groin, ran back to her house only partly dressed and got help from her roommate, Wildman said.

DeWeese told Judge Ronald Rice of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court before learning his sentence Wednesday that he has a drinking problem and admitted he “slapped” the woman and “shoved her down,” but he denied kidnapping and attempting to rape her.

Judge Rice said DeWees has a “long history of criminal convictions,” then listed at least 16 of them dating back to when DeWees was 18 and living in the Newton Falls area, to numerous convictions in Florida and Portage County and back in the Newton Falls area again.

The convictions include a handful of drunken-driving convictions, attempted kidnapping, battery, carrying concealed weapons, criminal trespassing, battery of spouse, burglary and grand theft.

DeWeese will be required to register as a sex offender for life.

He filed a motion for new trial March 9 that he prepared himself, listing what he said were inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony in a preliminary hearing in Newton Falls Municipal Court compared with the trial in common pleas court.