43
Man, 18, sentenced to 11 years in prison for raping girl, 12
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Daniel W. Thorne Jr., 18, of Walnut Street, Niles, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping a 12-year-old girl in December.
Thorne learned his sentence Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. He was originally indicted on a rape charge that carried a possible life prison sentence, but prosecutors agreed to amend his charge to one that carried no life sentence.
Gabe Wildman, assistant county prosecutor, said one reason for the reduction was another male also committed the same offense at the same location and time against another 12-year-old girl.
That male, Brandon Bork, who is still 17, received a lesser sentence in Trumbull County Juvenile Court for the same crime, Wildman said.
Bork, whose address was not available, was sentenced to serve a minimum of one year in an Ohio Department of Youth Services facility and could remain there up to age 21.
Law-enforcement records say an investigation into the matter began after the victim and her mother reported the sexual assault to Niles police Dec. 2. Police charged Thorne on March 19 after an investigation. Thorne was arrested at his home March 28 and has been in the county jail since then.
OTHER CASES
Also Tuesday, Tara M. Rutherford, 30, of Robert Avenue Northwest, was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of felonious assault.
Police said Rutherford stabbed a woman in the chest July 29 in the Premiere bar, 2261 North Park Ave. Wildman said the woman suffered serious injuries and nearly died.
On Monday, Roger Bispeck, 68, of Church Hill Road in Girard was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty in common pleas court to the felonious assault of his mother, 91, on Nov. 16, 2018, at the home, where he lived with her on North Ward Avenue in Girard.
Police said they were called to Ward Avenue because Bispeck’s mother went to a neighbor’s house with blood on her head, asking for help because her son had assaulted her.
Police believe the woman escaped from the house out a bathroom window.