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After pleading guilty to eight felony counts Thursday, a Wellsville man who acknowledged engaging in sexual activity with four young children over numerous years, including rape with one child, will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 20. Timothy Coles, 36, of Chester Avenue, came before Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam in a suit, followed by defense attorneys Charley Kidder and Joseph Phillips and a woman who sat in the courtroom.
Numerous victims’ family members were also present in the courtroom, along with Wellsville Police Lt. Marsha Eisenhart and the prosecutor’s office staff members. County Assistant Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones, who was accompanied by county Assistant Prosecutor Steve Yacovone, spoke with them shortly after the court.
As part of the felony plea agreement, she said she’ll recommend a 23-year prison term for Coles, as well as designation as a Tier III sexual offender, which means he won’t be allowed to live within 1,000 feet of any school, preschool, or daycare premises, and he’ll be required to register his address with the sheriff’s office of the county where he resides every 90 days for the rest of his life.
Kidder stated that he will seek a reduced sentence for his client. The case against Coles was planned for a jury trial on Monday, but Jones said a settlement was reached and the victims’ families were consulted. “They thought that was a realistic answer to this issue,” she explained.
Coles pled guilty to attempted rape, a first-degree felony; two charges of rape, each a first-degree felony lesser offense; attempted sexual battery, a third-degree felony; and gross sexual imposition, all of which are third-degree felonies. Jones noted that the two rape counts were altered to remove the age factor, which would have resulted in life in prison.
The attempted rape occurred between July 23, 2014, and July 22, 2017, according to the indictment and the features of the crimes as recounted by Washam, and involved a child who was 10 years old at the time of the attempts. Coles was charged with two counts of rape after allegedly engaging in sexual conduct with a second kid.
On November 13, 2012, she was six years old, and the torture persisted until November 12, 2016, and November 13, 2018. From July 23, 2014, to July 22, 2017, the first child was also the subject of attempted sexual violence and gross sexual imposition, while the second child was the victim of gross sexual imposition from November 13, 2012, to November 12, 2018.
Coles abused a third child beginning on May 1, 2017, when the child was six years old and continuing through December 31, 2019, and abused a fourth child beginning on January 1, 2019, when the child was nine years old and continuing through December 31, 2019. Jones stated that she is proposing that some of the counts be served concurrently, but consecutively to other offenses, for a total of 23 years.
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