WARREN — Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has requested full parole board hearings for two Trumbull County men, including one who has been in and out of prison for nearly 50 years.

Gary Betz, now 71, was given a 22-years-to-life sentence on Aug. 24, 1977, after being convicted by a three-judge panel on charges of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery in the late 1976 shotgun murder of Lake Milton tavern owner Ron Goche.

Watkins has stated in previous letters to the parole board that Betz was paroled twice from prison before murdering Goche and robbing him of $138 in bar receipts. After spending 30 years in prison for the killing of Goche, Betz was paroled for a third time in 2007 despite strong opposition from the victim’s family and the prosecutor’s office.

The criminal streak continued as Betz landed himself in more trouble while on parole. Betz violated terms of his release by accumulating three DUI charges in 2008, 2010 and 2011. He was sent back to prison following these offenses.

On Nov. 20, 1975, records show that Betz was sentenced to the Ohio State Penitentiary for a second time on a breaking and entering conviction in Columbiana County. He was released on parole supervision about a month before Goche was murdered. Within six years’ time, Betz had back-to-back-to-back prison sentences, Watkins said.

Testimony at a trial in 1977 showed Betz shot Goche in the face with a sawed-off shotgun at point-blank range, after entering Goche’s bar — the Riviera Inn — to rob it. A witness overheard the bar owner tell Betz to take the day’s receipts of $138, and he wouldn’t do anything to him. Betz took the money and fatally shot Goche anyway, according to trial testimony.

“To repeat my many prior letters — in my view; the cruel and unique factors found in Gary Betz’s actions and lifetime history of bad conduct or not listening should scream out against a fourth parole release. Please don’t release him on parole for the fourth time. You’re dealing with quintessential evil,” Watkins wrote in a letter opposing Betz’s parole.

He has written 10 letters in opposition to Betz’s release.

Betz is at the Marion Correctional Institution. Watkins said the victim’s family will get the opportunity to speak at the parole hearing. It is unclear when that hearing is.

PAUL CZOKA

Paul Czoka, now 77, was sentenced July 24, 1992, to 14 to 55 years in prison by the late Judge Mitchell F. Shaker. He was convicted earlier that year on two counts of rape and two counts of pandering obscenity involving minors.

Czoka’s victims were 5 and 6 years old at the time, and were the children of an ex-girlfriend. The obscenity charges involved Czoka taking videos and pictures of sexual acts with the young victims.

Reports stated Czoka drove along Robbins Avenue in Niles, calling young girls to his car and enticing them with toys and candy.

Unlike Betz, Czoka has had a good record in prison, but Watkins warns that looks may be deceiving. Watkins said in his letter to the parole board that many prisoners learn to play the game to get released. Good behavior in prison does not necessarily equate with good behavior outside prison, and Czoka has not had access to any young children while in prison, Watkins wrote.

“Evidence as far back as 1971 establishes that Czoka is a picture-ugly lifetime sexual predator. If he serves his full sentence, which will be until 2047, Czoka will be 99 years old and provide society more years of not worrying about what he is doing,” Watkins said.

Czoka is incarcerated at the Pickaway Correctional Institution and had his last parole hearing in 2021, which Watkins also opposed.