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Trumbull grand jury indicts Y'town man on ethnic intimidation
WARREN
A Trumbull County grand jury Tuesday indicted a Youngstown man who authorities say threatened his probation officers on a charge of ethnic intimidation.
A review of court records revealed Jason Sop, 23, has had a history of run-ins with law enforcement.
In the most recent case, Sop called his two Girard Municipal Court probation officers May 8 saying he wouldn’t be present for his court date for a menacing charge, according to a police report.
Sop berated them for some time, saying he was sick of the court, then he told them he knows where they and their families live and work and that he would “be there,” the report said.
Then, he told one of the black officers that he knew his wife is white and called him a racial slur at least twice, the report said.
He was charged with ethnic intimidation, a felony, along with two counts of aggravated menacing and telecommunication harassment.
This incident is the latest in a string of harassment cases.
In Weathersfield, Sop called an officer in January 2015 and asked for a welfare check on his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend, who stopped talking to him.
The ex-girlfriend and her family explained to the officers Sop had texted her 30 times and called 10 times, and was texting false information about the girl to her friends so they would stop talking to her, a report said.
He was charged with telecommunication harassment in February 2015 for continuing to text her even though officers ordered him to stop.
Then, he called the same girl 30 times and threatened to kill her in April 2016, the police report said. He was charged with aggravated menacing and telecommunication harassment.
In June 2016, he was charged with impersonating a peace officer when he called the same girl’s mother and pretended to be a Weathersfield police officer, asking about the welfare of her daughter, the report said.
In Boardman, police said he texted a recent ex-girlfriend this past March calling her derogatory names.
The next day, he called the girl and stated “he has guns and knows how to use them,” which she caught on tape, according to a police report.
Then, Sop told the girl he was on his way to her residence and would kick down the door and beat her father’s face in, the report said. The girl got a protection order.
There were also two incidents in which police were called after Sop got in a fight with his father June 2017 and a verbal altercation with his mother in May 2017, but no charges were filed.
Sop, who is out on bond, is scheduled to appear at 1:30 p.m. Monday hearing on the intimidation charge before Judge Ronald Rice in common pleas court.