Jefferson County grand jury hands down indictments (2024)

STEUBENVILLE — A Jefferson County grand jury indicted 30 people Wednesday, among them two Brilliant men charged for an April murder, two others who will stand trial on charges stemming from a violent road rage incident and seven people indicted on charges stemming from a brutal assault at Club 106.

Rusty Lee Stevens, 53, 517 Labelle St., Brilliant, and a co-defendant, Thomas Wiley Davis II, 26, 201 Main St., Brilliant, are each facing charges of murder and felonious assault in connection with the April 30 death of Randy Clinard.

The indictments allege the two men knowingly committed acts of violence that took the life of the 57-year-old Clinard, a Steubenville resident.

Police at the time had said the call was originally reported as a “possible DOA, (but) when officers arrived on scene, they saw some things that caused them to suspect” foul play.

Indicted in connection with an alleged road rage incident were Maureen L. Search, 114 Troy Place, Wintersville, and Tyler Anthony Sharpe, 77 Melvin Street, Wintersville, April 20 in Steubenville.

Search, 54, was ordered to stand trial on a felonious assault charge, while Sharpe, 29, is facing charges of felonious assault with a one-year firearm specification and tampering with evidence, also a felony.

Authorities allege Sharpe clocked out from his job in Weirton and on his way across the bridge, “split the lane” on his motorcycle, cutting between two cars, one of them Search’s. She was so incensed she chased him at over 94 miles per hour from the bridge to Lovers Lane Extension in Steubenville, where a verbal altercation ensued “and she hits him with her car while he’s still on his motorcycle.” Sharpe, in turn, pulled out a weapon and fired four shots, striking the rear windshield and the driver side of the woman’s car.

Search then told Ohio State Highway Patrol officers someone had shot at her but didn’t mention driving her car into the other person’s motorcycle while he was sitting on it, authorities allege. It wasn’t until troopers reviewed video footage from a camera in the woman’s car that they found out she’d chased him from Weirton and struck him with her vehicle.

Also indicted were seven people — one of them female — charged with brutally beating two men during a May 14 brawl at Steubenville’s Club 106.

The indictments allege the seven caused “serious physical harm” to the two men, one of whom had to be flown by medical helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital. The other fled before police arrived.

Ordered to stand trial on felonious assault charges were Jordan Jay-Michael Hendricks, 30, 1611 Pennsylvania Ave., Steubenville; Charles Cody Dickey, 33, 104 Frazier Ave., Mingo Junction; Elise Janay Watts, 25, 101 Wilma Ave., Steubenville; Jermaine Roosevelt Crawford Jr., 45, 103 Cunningham Drive, Steubenville; Corey Joseph Lyons, 35, 809 Oakmont Ave., Steubenville.

Lyons faces an additional felonious assault charge for allegedly beating one of the victims with a metal bar stool, authorities said.

Sonny Ray Adams, 40, and his wife Rebecca Ann Adams, 41, both of 202 Grace St., Mingo Junction, each face two felony counts of endangering children and also a single misdemeanor count of endangering children. The indictment alleges the pair “did repeatedly administer unwarranted disciplinary measures” to a child with special needs “when there was a substantial risk that such conduct, if continued, would seriously impair or retard the child’s mental health or development” and that they violated their “duty of care, protection and support” to that same child and a sibling.

Authorities allege the couple allowed the children to live in unsanitary conditions with, among other things, a sink filled with feces, and that they locked one of them, a child with special needs, in a closet at night to “protect them so the child wouldn’t get out.”

Others indicted were:

— Anthony Wayne Matheson, 221 Clifton Ave., Mingo Junction, on felony charges of permitting child abuse, gross sexual imposition and rape of a juvenile.

The grand jury ordered Matheson, 37, to stand trial on charges he permitted a juvenile to be “abused … tortured … administered corporal punishment or other physical disciplinary measure, or to be physically restrained in a cruel manner or for a prolonged period.” The indictment also alleges he had sexual contact with a juvenile.

— Ronald Paul Shumard, 391 Union St., Mount Pleasant, on charges of improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, both felonies, and a misdemeanor count of aggravated menacing Oct. 26.

Authorities claim Shumard, 53, had a loaded gun in his lap when he allegedly led Ohio State Highway Patrol on a chase almost to Piedmont. Authorities report Shumard was under the influence of alcohol, drugs or both when he was holding the gun.

— Justin M. Fry, 39, 4309 Jefferson St., Bellaire, on charges of menacing by stalking, a felony, and aggravated menacing, a misdemeanor. Authorities allege Fry and the victim had been in a short-lived relationship, and after their breakup he allegedly harassed and stalked the woman, allegedly showing up at her job at a day care and telling her he could “rape her right there and no one would know.”

The indictment alleges Fry knowingly caused his victim to believe he would harm her or a member of her family.

— Raymond L. Terry Jr., 52, and Tara Elaine Williams, 40, both of 217 Sharon Dr., Weirton, on felony charges of tampering with records, Medicaid eligibility fraud and grand theft, as well as a misdemeanor count of falsification.

Terry and Williams, who at the time worked for Jefferson County Job and Family Services, allegedly committed welfare fraud, collecting more than $30,000 in Medicaid and food assistance to which they weren’t entitled from November 2019 through February 2023. Authorities maintain the couple received assistance from Ohio, even though they live in West Virginia, and neglected to report Williams’ income, which would have made them ineligible.

— Carmina Skye Chiovitti, 19, McDonald, Pa., and Madison Christine Baron, 22, Carnegie, PA, each indicted on a felony burglary charge. The two, in a relationship, allegedly broke into a house in County Club March 20 and stole firearms and ammunition.

At the time, police reported finding several open beers, hard iced teas and a shovel inside a vehicle belonging to the owner of the property, who was not present, along with a lanyard and ID belonging to Chiovitti in the driveway. In their report, police alleged Chiovitti was sitting on the ground behind the house with a 12-gauge shotgun and a backpack containing ammunition, a black pistol magazine “and a clear plastic object” shaped like male genitalia. They’d also said a screen door was knocked off its track and an inside window was shattered, and claimed Baron was found inside the home, which appeared to have been ransacked.

— Brandon Travis Pegg, 39, 437 Township Road 448A, Bloomingdale, two counts of menacing by stalking, both felonies, over a five-year period beginning in January 2018.

Authorities allege Pegg harassed his neighbors, flying drones over their property and shining laser lights through their windows.

— Sharmor-Ay Wanya Leonte Johnson, 22, 484 S. Sixth St., Steubenville, on a charge of having weapons while under disability, tampering with evidence and carrying a concealed weapon, April 11.

Johnson allegedly was caught with a weapon he wasn’t supposed to have, a Hi-Point 9 mm, then tried to discard it during a police chase.

He is prohibited from possessing or using guns due to prior felony convictions for violence in Lycoming County, Pa., in 2011 and statutory sexual assault , also in Pennsylvania, in 2020.

— Samantha V. Robinson, 23, 719 Market St. Apt. G, Steubenville, grand theft, a felony. Police allege Robinson, 23, stole at least $28,000 from her former employer between November 2022 and February 2023.

— Jason Darnell Bigsby, 46, 998 McKinley Ave., Steubenville, on a charge of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, drugs or a combination of both, Nov. 4.

— Linda Sue Green, 45, 2612 County Road 51, Toronto, aggravated vehicular assault, a felony. Authorities allege Green was highly intoxicated on April 8 when she crashed head-on into a car in which two young people were riding, seriously injuring a female who has already undergone at least two surgeries due to her injuries.

— Travis E. Knight, 38, 19 Tiro Lane, Adena, on a charge of aggravated possession of drugs, a felony. Knight allegedly had methamphetamine in his possession May 4.

— Davon Keseem Jones, 43, 3533 Pennsylvania Ave., Weirton, on a charge of burglary, a felony. Jones allegedly broke into the home of a woman he knew on Dec. 24 and, once inside, damaged the inside of it. The woman was not home and a neighbor who was keeping an eye on her home called police, she said.

— Aaron Dwayne Hill, 47, 1426 Pennsylvania Ave., Steubenville, on two counts of trafficking cocaine along with possession of a fentanyl-related compound and possession of cocaine, all felonies.

The indictment alleges Hill sold or attempted to sell drugs to a confidential informant on April 21.

Prosecutors also want Hill to forfeit $843 in his possession when he was taken into custody by members of the Jefferson County Drug Task Force and believed to be proceeds from the alleged illegal drug activity.

— James Sean Smith, 1012 McKinley Ave., Steubenville, escape, a felony. Authorities allege Smith, 26, faked an illness and was transported to Trinity West on April 1 and, despite being warned he’d face a felony charge if he fled, left the hospital anyway.