Staff report

WARREN — A Howland man received an indefinite 12- to 15-year prison sentence Wednesday for charges of child pornography and “revenge porn,” according to the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office.

Jeffrey Barton, 37, pleaded guilty Feb. 10 to a bill of information charging him with 18 criminal counts, including nine counts of pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor, eight counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance and one misdemeanor count of dissemination of private sexual images.

A bill of information means the case did not go before a grand jury, which decides whether to indict someone.

Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean O’Brien declared Barton a Tier 2 sexual offender, meaning he will have to register with the sheriff’s office twice a year for the next 25 years.

Barton was initially arrested by Howland police in December on a felony warrant during the execution of a search warrant at his 8263 Englewood St. NE residence after the Internet Crimes Against Children task force out of Cuyahoga County received a tip and police searched his home.

Howland police collected a gaming system, two flip phones, two handheld electronic reading devices and one electronic tablet from the home. It was later discovered that Barton downloaded internet-based child pornography on his electronic devices and also shared private sexual images of females without their consent.

Prosecutors said none of the charges against him involved the production of child pornography, however. Assistant Prosecutor Gabriel Wildman pushed for consecutive sentences, which O’Brien agreed to, saying that the terms were needed to protect the public from Barton’s future crimes.

The following cases were also handled before O’Brien:

• Jacob Poe, 42, of Girard, was sentenced to an indefinite period of three to four-and-a-half years in prison after he admitted to a probation violation stemming from his January 2024 conviction for six counts of child pornography. Poe, who was declared a Tier 2 sex offender at the time of conviction, admitted to viewing pornography on his monitored smartphone, which violated his probation. The prosecutor had asked for a prison term, and the judge agreed, because of Poe having a “compulsion to engage in this type of material.”

• Randy Rule, 63, of Warren, pleaded guilty to a fifth-degree attempted grand theft felony. Rule, who could face up to 12 months in prison, will undergo a background investigation conducted by probation officers before sentencing. The case involved a case of falsified invoices made out to the Surrey Pointe Homeowners Association between 2015 and 2022 when Rule was president of the group. Some of the $140,218 was paid for work supposedly done by non-existent companies, prosecutors said

• Alexander Lough, 44, of Youngstown, pleaded guilty to a fifth-degree breaking and entering charge. Lough, who could face up to 12 months in prison, will undergo a background investigation conducted by probation officers before sentencing. The case involved a Jan. 2, 2025, break-in at the Easy Stop drive-through at 2263 N. Main St. in Niles, where cash and cigarettes were stolen, prosecutors said.

• Jeremiah Allen, 32, Reo Boulevard NW, Warren, pleaded guilty to two counts of fifth-degree vandalism and received a six-month prison term. The case involved an April 24, 2024, incident in the Trumbull County jail when Allen was an inmate who used part of his wheelchair to smash windows on two occasions. Prosecutors stated that video evidence would have been used if this case had gone to trial.