STEUBENVILLE — A city resident has been ordered to stand trial for allegedly raping a woman Sept. 6 in Steubenville.
A Jefferson County grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday alleging Jashon Idequine Kesine King, 815 N. Sixth St., Apt. 410, Steubenville, “purposely compelled” a woman to have sex by force or threat of force Sept. 6 in Steubenville.
Authorities allege King, 45, videotaped the assault on his own cell phone.
A total of 24 indictments were returned by grand jurors, including two men charged with domestic violence and a third charged with burglary and violating a protection order, seven people facing new drug cases, three facing welfare fraud charges, one man charged with felonious assault and another with failing to register as a sex offender.
In addition, charges against two men previously indicted for murder were downgraded based on autopsy results and a contractor indicted two months ago on five felony counts of theft by deception is facing additional charges.
Amended indictments were returned against Rusty Lee Stevens, 54, 517 Labelle St., Brilliant, and Thomas Wiley Davis, 27, 201 Main St., Brilliant. The two were originally indicted on charges of murder and felonious assault in connection with the April 30 death of Randy Clinard, a 57-year-old Steubenville resident.
Prosecutor Jane Hanlin said charges against the pair were reduced based on autopsy reports stating there was “more than one contributing cause” to Clinard’s death.
The amended indictments charge Stevens with felonious assault, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter, and Davis with felonious assault and involuntary manslaughter, all felonies.
Others indicted were:
• Donald George Longo, two felony counts of domestic violence and aggravated possession of drugs, also a felony.
The indictment alleges Longo, 48, “knowingly caused physical harm” to a female living with him Oct. 26 and that he has two prior convictions for domestic violence against members of his household — October 2007 in Steubenville Municipal Court and January 2022 in Wintersville County Court.
Authorities allege he also admitted a quantity of methamphetamine found in a structure on the property belonged to him.
• Joseph T. Mitchell, 29, 180 N. Fourth St., Apt. 410, Steubenville, domestic violence, a felony, and misdemeanor assault.
Authorities allege Mitchell, 29, beat a pregnant woman Oct. 30.
The indictment charges Mitchell with causing or attempting to cause physical harm to a member of his household, knowing “the victim was pregnant at the time.”
• Cameron Darnell Petteway, 35, 231 Hollywood Blvd., Steubenville, felony burglary and misdemeanor counts of violating a protection order and criminal trespass.
Petteway allegedly ignored a protection order barring him from stalking or harassing family members and prohibiting him from coming within 500 feet of them Oct. 24 in Steubenville. City police had reported security footage from a property where a protected person was sheltering showed Petteway entering a utility building and then blowing kisses at a security camera.
• Richard Henry Carter, 52, 8417 county Road 22A, Bloomingdale, five additional felony counts of grand theft.
The indictment alleges Carter, a contractor, defrauded five additional Jefferson County residents of just under $60,000 by not performing the home improvements he’d been hired to do.
Carter had originally been indicted in October on five felony counts of theft by deception.
• Dennis M. Burkett, 101 Woodridge Drive, Apt. 4, Wintersville, complicity in the commission of an offense, possession of drugs, aggravated possession of drugs, possession of cocaine and possession of a fentanyl-related compound, all felonies.
The indictment alleges Burkett, 54, aided in the trafficking of methamphetamine by driving a woman to a controlled buy May 16 in Toronto, and that police seized 101 2 mg Xanax pills, 2.8 grams of methamphetamine, 2.5 grams of a fentanyl compound, and cocaine from his home when they executed a search warrant there three weeks later.
• Jacob Paul Butto, 41, 103 Ravine St., Mingo Junction, aggravated possession of drugs, a felony, and two misdemeanor counts of possessing drugs.
The indictment alleges Butto had methamphetamine mixed with fentanyl in his possession Oct. 19, as well as smaller quantities of gabapentin, an anticonvulsant and nerve pain medication used to treat seizures, and buprenorphine. All are controlled substances.
• Perry Lee Leasure, 99 Smithfield St., Dillonvale, trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound, a felony, as well as a misdemeanor count of endangering children. The indictment includes a forfeiture specification.
The indictments allege Leasure, 29, sold methamphetamine to a confidential information in the presence of a toddler March 29, creating “a substantial risk to the health or safety” of the child.
Authorities are seeking forfeiture of $5,782 allegedly derived from drug trafficking.
• Jeremaine N. Lewis 37, 180 N. Fourth St., Apt. 303, Steubenville, burglary and retaliation, both felonies.
Lewis allegedly was caught on surveillance footage stealing a big screen TV, bologna and salami from a neighbor’s apartment Oct. 16 in Steubenville.
The indictment also alleges after his arrest Lewis told the two arresting officers he would kill them and threatened to “put a bomb on the head” of one of them.
• Michael Troy Dufrasne, 49, 861 County Road 1, Rayland, failure to register as a sex offender, a felony.
Authorities allege Dufrasne, a convicted sex offender, failed to register his address as required by law. He had been convicted of gross sexual imposition in Jefferson County Common Pleas Court in 2022.
• Indicted separately on welfare fraud charges were Tiffany Tanley , 30, 73 Cricket St., Amsterdam; Michelle L. Conn, 52, 10830 County Road 56, Richmond; and Tyler Cominsky, 29, 1501 Madison Ave., Toronto.
The felony indictments charge all three with illegal use of supplemental nutrition assistance or WIC program benefits.
Authorities allege the three defendants used SNAP benefits on cards of individuals who died several years previously.
• Jefferson T. Cunningham III, (AKA Devon Cunningham, Jarrell Cunning Ham, Jefferson T. Cunningham and Terell Cunningham), three counts of trafficking cocaine, three counts trafficking a fentanyl-related compound, two counts of having weapons under disability and a single count of assault, all of them felonies.
The indictment alleges Cunningham sold or offered to sell drugs to informants in July and August; that he had four guns in his possession despite a 2016 conviction for aggravated battery against a police officer in Chicago and a 2013 conviction for a felony drug violation, also in Chicago; and that he assaulted a Jefferson County corrections officer on Oct. 21.
• Creshawn Tyler, 29, 416 Adams St., Steubenville, three counts of trafficking cocaine and three counts trafficking a fentanyl-related compound, all felonies. The alleged offenses took place between July 24 and Aug. 15.
• Darrius Lamar Anderson, 26, three felony counts alleging possession of a fentanyl-related compound, trafficking a fentanyl-related compound and trafficking cocaine, Aug. 24 and Aug. 25.
• Terrence Jay Smith, 34, 604 N. Fifth St., Steubenville, three felony counts charging possession of a fentanyl-related compound and two counts trafficking cocaine from March 30 through Aug. 23.
• Stewart Leon Jones, 33, 1200 Cortland Road, Weirton, felonious assault.
The indictment alleges Jones “knowingly caused or attempted to cause harm” to another man with a knife May 7. Authorities allege Jones stabbed a Pennsylvania man at least twice in a dispute that “seemed to be over a girl.
• Tyler Karhut, 27, 198 National Road, Toronto, original indictment amended to include a firearm specification.
Karhut, 27, allegedly forced his way into a former girlfriend’s house in September and threatened harm to her male companion, then fled in the man’s car and led police on a high-speed chase into West Virginia and then Pennsylvania, firing at state troopers pursing him. He was originally indicted in November on aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, felonious assault, and failure to comply with order of signal of a police officer, all felonies, along with misdemeanor counts of aggravated menacing and criminal damaging or endangering.
• Myron Devon Harton, 34, 411 Lincoln Ave., Mingo Junction, indictment amended to include a firearm specification.
Harton was previously ordered to stand trial on charges of receiving stolen property, having weapons under disability and possession of cocaine with specifications for major drug offender status, forfeiture of an automobile and forfeiture of $5,735 believed to be the proceeds of illegal drug trafficking.
• Cinquan J. Dunn, 20, 8444 S. Escanaba Ave., Floor 1, Chicago, amended indictment charging trafficking in cocaine and trafficking a fentanyl-related compound, both in the vicinity of Steubenville High School on Aug. 9; trafficking cocaine with a $330 forfeiture specification on Aug. 16; trafficking a fentanyl-related compound, also on Aug. 16; two counts of possessing cocaine two counts of possessing a fentanyl-related compound, all on Aug. 17.
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