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Rogenski pleads guilty

Alicia Rogenski

LISBON — One of two Wellsville co-defendants charged in the shooting death of Scottie Johnson in March pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated robbery.

Alicia Rogenski, 30, Hillcrest Road, Wellsville, wept at the conclusion of Thursday’s hearing before county Common Pleas Court Judge C. Ashley Pike. Before she could be led from the courtroom by Sheriff’s deputies, Rogenski asked to sit down. Then seated behind the defendant’s table, she broke down.

Rogenski entered the guilty pleas to two of the six charges against her. When she returns for sentencing on Jan. 5, she will face a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life for the murder conviction and a three-year term for the aggravated robbery charge.

Chief Assistant County Prosecutor John Gamble said based on the plea agreement, he will no longer pursue the other four charges against her — aggravated murder, complicity to commit aggravated murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. He also said he would request the two sentences run concurrently.

Along with her co-defendant Terry Brown, 48, Rogenski is accused in the death of Johnson, whose body was found in a trash pile near the house where the couple had lived on Hillcrest Road, before the home burned on July 1. Gamble said they shot Johnson in the head with a shotgun for the purpose of stealing either money, drugs or both from him.

Brown remains charged with aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery, complicity to aggravated murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. The charges include a firearm specification.

A status conference remains set for Brown on Monday and a jury trial is on the court’s schedule for Oct. 31.

Johnson, who had been staying at the Hillcrest Road home, was reported missing after friends in Cleveland had not heard from him for a couple of days. Deputies found evidence of the crime and Johnson’s body. Brown reportedly confessed to the crime.

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