Read for free: Castle conviction, sentencing in kidnapping top local story of 2022

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Crime scene

The Hardin County Common Pleas Court jury in the case against Charles Castle were given a tour of the locations involved in the case in July. Top, Court Administrator Gina Messner reads instructions to the jury at the home where the girl was hidden as Judge Scott Barrett (left) and Sheriff Keith Everhart look on. Below, jurors were shown the basement where the young girl was thrown and abandoned.

Times file photos

By TIM THOMAS

Times editor

The conviction and sentencing of Charles Castle in the kidnapping of a young Kenton girl was named the top local story of 2022 by the Kenton Times.

The case against Castle was called “probably the most heinous crime” Judge Scott Barrett said he had heard from the bench in his judicial career. Barrett sentenced Castle to serve 48 years to life in prison.

Castle was convicted in July by a Hardin County jury of 16 counts stemming from the November 2021 kidnapping of a seven-year-old girl from her home on Leighton Street in Kenton.

The charges against Castle included seven counts of kidnapping, three counts of tampering with evidence and one count each of rape, felonious assault, endangering children, attempted murder and breaking and entering. 

During the seven-day trial in Hardin County Common Pleas Court, Prosecutor Brad Bailey presented the jury evidence that tied Castle to the abduction, rape and attempted murder of the girl. Castle, said Bailey, was celebrating his birthday and saw the child as his present to himself.

Castle took her to the basement of an abandoned country home. He threw her down a flight of concrete steps and locked the door behind him, the jury was told. 

“He wanted to get rid of her,” said Bailey. “He had no intention of going back to that location.”

Deputies discovered the girl in the basement when a concerned citizen called in a tip. She had been without water, food, heat or sanitary facilities while there. 

“I have never seen a worse crime in my career in this court,” said Barrett. “The defendant shows no reason to show him mercy.”

Placing second on the list was a much more positive story. The Ridgemont FFA was named the No. 1 chapter in the United States at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis in October.

The award was for the chapter’s Commodity Christmas project in which the FFA members helped to make 550 gifts for the elementary students using agricultural commodities.

FFA advisors Stephanie Jolliff and Lori Romie said the entire chapter planned and executed the project to teach the younger students about agricultural commodities and share more about agriculture.

They said the project came about because all the students missed the connection with people during the Covid pandemic.

“They wanted to bring back a sense of community,” Romie said.

Ridgemont also had 22 students who were national finalists for their projects and five earned national recognition in the science fair competition.

Hardin County’s election of its first woman judge ranked third on the list of top stories. Maria Santo claimed that distinction with her election as a new Common Pleas Court judge in the Domestic Relations Division.

Santo, a Republican, defeated independent Mark Schwemer 4,876-3,720  in the November General Election.

She called her election “an historic event” for the county.

Santo had advanced to the November election after winning a contested Republican primary over Christina Cross.

Placing as the fourth rated story of the year were the convictions and sentencings related to the shooting death of Robert B. Mays Jr., of Findlay, whose body was found on July 7, 2021, along Township Road 265, south of Kenton.

Four individuals intended to rob Mays that night but instead ended up leaving his body littered with bullet holes and hid the murder weapon.

Dane Honaker, Andrew Wells and Valerie Mara Lewis all pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison terms for their roles in Mays’ death.

A fourth defendant, Hayden Radabaugh, awaits trail in the case as well. That is scheduled for May, 2023.

The fifth ranked story of 2022 was the planning for the new Kenton Middle/High School, which as the year closed, was moving toward the design/development phase of the project, with construction expected to begin in June of 2023. It will be located east of Kenton Elementary School at the corner of Silver Street and Morningside Drive.

But there were several developments along the way. The first was that the building, planned for grades 7-12, now will include grade six. Greatly affecting the decision is current research which supports grouping grades 6-8 together, said Superintendent Chad Thrush.

Garmann Miller was selected as the architect for the project. The firm also designed the elementary school.

Financial concerns about the project also were raised because inflationary pressures have increase the project cost by about 15 percent. That has forced the district to enter into “value engineering” sessions to try to figure out how to get the same building, but with cutting costs. An updated cost estimate is expected early in 2023, followed by more cost-cutting.

For the third consecutive year, Hardin County set a new record in 2021 for collection of local sales tax. That ranked sixth in the listing of stories for 2022.

According to a report from Hardin County Auditor Mike Bacon’s office, there was $5,618,401 collected by the county in 2021. That compares to $5,335,319 from 2020 and is more than $1 million above the amount collected in 2019 ($4,607,918). 

Ranked seventh on the list was another case from the criminal world. Kelly Bolin was sent to prison for more than 20 years for sexually assaulting his daughter.

Bolin pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual imposition and one charge of sexual battery. Originally, there were eight counts of rape against him and he could have been sent to prison for the remainder of his life. But Bolin’s guilty plea spared his daughter from the “hell” of testifying in court, Judge Scott Barrett said.

Number eight was the sad case of the death of Kenton resident Chad Thomas Roof and the community’s uplifting response. Over the past few months $250,000 has been donated toward an inclusive park to be developed in remembrance of Chad.

The park will be geared toward handicap accessibility, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, and providing fun for the entire community. It will be located behind the Hardin County Family YMCA with plans to have it completed by June of 2023.

Taking the ninth spot was the news that Kenton is pulling back on plans for Phase II of the downtown infrastructure replacement project. As a single project, it is anticipated to cost at least $21 million.

City leaders had hoped for a high percentage of grant money and loan principal forgiveness to help with the cost, but those have failed to materialize.

“We’re trying to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ money. We can’t afford to do this unless we get grant money,” said Safety Service Director Cindy Murray.

Wrapping up the top 10 list of stories was news of the death of Times Sports Editor Kendrick Jesionow-ski in May. He, along with passenger Lisa Scott Reiss, were found in Jesionowski’s truck in Cowan Lake near Wilmington in Clinton County.

They had been attending a horse show and were returning to the campgrounds where they were staying when the vehicle went off the roadway and into the lake.

Jesionowski, a graduate of the University of Toledo, had worked at the Times for more than 20 years as a news reporter, sports reporter and sports editor.