AUSTINTOWN — Township trustees will meet at 11 a.m. Wednesday to appoint an interim trustee to replace Steve Kent.

Kent was convicted Monday of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.

Mahoning County Prosecutor Gina DeGenova said that after reviewing the Ohio Revised Code and conferring with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, her office has determined that Kent’s conviction automatically renders him “incompetent to hold office.”

“Since a jury returned a verdict finding Steve Kent guilty of a felony, he was rendered incompetent to hold his position of Austintown Township trustee at that time. His office is now vacant.”

Austintown Township Administrator Mark D’Apolito said the appointee will serve the remainder of Kent’s term, until a new trustee is elected in November and sworn in.

D’Apolito said he could not comment on whom the board will appoint.

Jurors acquitted Kent on three counts of sexual battery stemming from allegations that he forced a student at Poland Seminary High School to perform sex acts in 2021, while he was a Poland Township police officer and the school’s resource officer.

During the trial, prosecutors provided evidence that Kent performed a factory reset on his phone just one day after he was made aware that the student’s claims would be reported to police.