16 men nabbed in online sex sting

By JOE GORMAN

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

A sting that nabbed 16 men for soliciting sex from minors was months in the planning, Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene said at a news conference announcing their arrests.

The arrests are part of Operation Pedo-Cure III, which targeted men looking for sex online from minors.

The men were arrested Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after they were lured to the area by an undercover officer.

Ohio Attorney General's Office

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A sting that nabbed 16 men for soliciting sex from minors was months in the planning, Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Green said at a news conference announcing their arrests.

The sting is run by several different agencies and they take months to plan and coordinate, the sheriff said Friday.

“These are so time intensive and there are so many people involved,” Greene said. “It takes months and months and months of chatting online. It’s a very specialized skill set.”

Those who were taken into custody during the sting are:

Ommar Castro Diaz, 34, Cleveland; Dennis Dabney II, 47, Short Street, Salem; Darrell Davis, 60, Alpha Street, East Liverpool; Grant Gieb, 24, Canton; David Kent, 24, Valencia, Pa.; Joel Kurz, 30, Lockwood Boulevard, Boardman; Timothy Leaverknight, 53, Old State Route 558, Salem; James McClalin III, 38, North Evanston Avenue, Youngstown; William Ragle, 25, Akron; Nicholas Sammartino, 20, Springfield Road, Poland; Charles Stumpf, 33, Akron; Steven Sutton, 44, Prospect, Pa.; Brian Underwood, 30, Winona Drive, Youngstown; Andrew Wirth, 30, Ravenna; Ronald Woods III, 23, North Raccoon Road, Austintown; and Thomas Yakemovic III, 30, of Sharon, Pa.

They were all arraigned Friday in Mahoning County Area Court in Canfield on charges of importuning, unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and possession of criminal tools. All charges are felonies. They were all lured to the area by an undercover officer online posing as a minor, and when they arrived they were arrested.

The sting is the third one put on by the sheriff’s office and other agencies that are part of the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force: the sheriff’s office; the county prosecutor’s office; the Youngstown, Austintown, Warren, Cortland and New Middletown police departments; the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation; the Ohio Investigative Unit; and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office.

The previous two stings garnered 10 and 12 arrests, respectively. Greene said as the task force investigates more cases, they get better at getting suspects and making arrests.

Maj. Jeff Allen of the sheriff’s office said prosecutors and investigators consult each other on a regular basis and prosecutors often advise investigators when there is enough evidence to make an arrest.

In this sting, half of the men are not from the Mahoning Valley. Assistant Prosecutor Jen McLaughlin, who specializes in sex crimes, said perhaps the word is getting out locally that police are monitoring online traffic and local people are more careful online.

Greene said in the previous investigations, there were suspects who were not yet arrested who were still online chatting with undercover officers. He said the investigations will continue because predators do not take a break.

“They’re not going away online, so we’re not going away,” the sheriff said.