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STEUBENVILLE -- A man who allegedly sped across state lines to avoid arrest and another who bilked homeowners looking for a contractor out of several thousand dollars each were among the eight people indicted recently by the Jefferson County grand jury.
Grand jurors also returned an amended indictment against a ninth man to include a forfeiture specification.
Joshua Ryan Johnson, 33, 300 Miller Ave., Weirton, was ordered to stand trial on a charge of failing to comply with an order or signal of a police officer April 28.
Authorities at the time had said they were trying to pull Johnson over to serve him with outstanding felony warrants for his arrest when he allegedly ignored their lights and sirens, eventually pulling over at the intersection of Ridge Avenue at McDowell but then taking off again "at a high rate of speed" once the officer got out of his cruiser. Johnson allegedly reached speeds in excess of 70 miles per hour on Woodlawn Road and police claimed cars and pedestrians scrambled to get out of his way and traveled into oncoming traffic crossing University Boulevard into a construction zone "with numerous workers present," authorities said.
Grand jurors also returned a five-count felony indictment against Christopher Lee Winters, 13 4th St., Beech Bottom, charging him with theft (two counts), passing bad checks (two counts) and theft from a person in a protected class.
The indictment alleges Winters, 41, tricked three people, one of them elderly, into paying him a total of $11,350 in 2024 for services he never rendered and that he subsequently wrote checks to two of them despite knowing they would bounce.
Also indicted:
• Robert Mark Lollathin, 93 Cole St., Dillonvale, two counts of felonious assault plus strangulation, also a felony, over a two-week period in May.
The indictment alleges Lollathin, 38, "knowingly caused serious physical harm" to a woman on May 1 and again on May 13, and that he tried strangle or suffocate her on May 14, "creating a substantial risk of physical harm" to her.
• Douglas Lee Reese, 52, 1653 County Road 68, Toronto, using weapons while intoxicated and aggravated menacing, both misdemeanors.
In May, authorities had reported a caller complained of a male pointing a loaded gun at him and threatening to shoot him through a window, but he'd stepped away from the window before the alleged gunshot. Authorities reported Reese initially claimed the sound the man heard was his tractor backfiring, but he ended up in custody after a deputy sheriff spotted a shell casing in his driveway, they said.
• Bryon Keith Pyles, 39, Moundsville, receiving stolen property, a felony, May 16. The indictment alleges Pyles had a 2006 Chevy Colorado in his possession that he knew or had reasonable cause to believe had been stolen.
• Justin Frank Lake, 28, Salem, possessing drugs and illegally conveying drugs of abuse into a detention facility, both felonies.
Authorities allege Lake had buprenorphine in his possession on April 3 and that he knowingly conveyed or attempt to convey drugs into the county jail. Lake had previously been convicted of aggravated possession of drugs in Columbiana County in January, grand jurors noted.
• Lawrence Reginald Hicks, 36, 463 S. 4th St., Steubenville, one count of burglary, a felony, on May 22. Hicks allegedly trespassed in an occupied structure in the 400 block of S. 5th Street, Steubenville.
• Delbert P. Kernen, 53, 500 Wallace St., Lot 2, Brilliant, domestic violence, a felony, along with violating a protection order, a misdemeanor, over a two-week period in June.
Kernen allegedly caused or attempted to cause physical harm to a member of his household on June 10 despite being ordered by the court to stay away from the individual. He previously had been convicted of domestic violence in Dillonvale County Court in April 2007 and again in August 2023, elevating the current alleged offense to felony status.
• An amended indictment was returned against Nathaniel C. Longmire, 49, 377 Lawson Ave., Steubenville. Longmire, 49, was originally indicted in June on felony counts of having weapons under disability, failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer and possession of cocaine on Feb. 7, all felonies.
The amended indictment adds a specification seeking forfeiture of the $2,680 in Longmire's possession at the time, money authorities believe was intended for or derived from a drug transaction.