Man gets 29 years in prison in child-rape case

Staff report

WARREN

Bernard Weathersbee, 47, of Salt Springs Road in Mineral Ridge, was sentenced to 29 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to 17 rapes and seven other sex charges involving three children.

The offenses occurred in Niles, Weathersfield and Girard. One of Weathersbee’s victims was 4 when the abuse began, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Weathersbee engaged in sexual conduct with two victims and had videos and photos of those two victims and a third one.

The rapes occurred from 2007 through 2016, and the charges involving videos and photos are from 2015 and 2016, according to Weathersbee’s indictment.

Weathersbee was scheduled to go to trial Monday before Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, but he pleaded guilty to reduced charges instead.

Weathersbee was indicted on nine rape counts that could have each produced a life prison sentence.

Instead he pleaded guilty to 17 rape charges that each carried a possible penalty of 11 years in prison.

He also pleaded guilty to six counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance. Each of those charges could have added another eight years to his prison sentence.

He also pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor from 2015.