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LISBON -- Charles Bogart Jr., the Hammondsville man recently charged with aggravated murder and murder in the 2010 death of William "Sonny" Young, entered a not guilty plea Thursday during arraignment.
Bogart, 48, Hazel Run Road, appeared from the Columbiana County jail via video in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court before Judge Megan Bickerton. He was represented in the courtroom by his hired attorney, Chris Amato, who said he plans to file a motion this week regarding the issue of bond.
Bogart remains jailed under a $1 million cash or surety bond, which Bickerton continued at the request of county Prosecutor Vito Abruzzino.
According to court records, the case has been assigned to Bickerton's court. A pretrial is scheduled at 11:40 a.m. Jan. 3.
Abruzzino announced Bogart's arrest last month for the cold case. Young, 69, was discovered dead in the woods behind his home on Spring Valley Road, Salineville near Highlandtown. He had been shot to death.
The charges against Bogart include firearm specifications since a gun was used to commit the offense. The indictment alleged that Bogart caused Young's death while committing or attempting to commit aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary or burglary.
Both the sheriff's office led by Sheriff Brian McLaughlin and the prosecutor's office have been working on the cold cases in the county, with a Cold Case Task Force formed in 2022. The paper files from the cold cases have been digitized so the files can be brought up to date and reviewed. Abruzzino said the charges in this particular cold case resulted from an investigation and new evidence procured by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the county sheriff's office, along with investigators from the prosecutor's office.
Young's body was found in August 2010 after law enforcement officials went to his house when alerted by Huntington Bank officials in Calcutta that someone posing as Young tried to cash a $3,500 check from Young's account. That person was identified as Bogart, who was then stopped while driving Young's pickup and had Young's wallet. More of Young's property was found during a search of Bogart's Hazel Run Road home, including Young's PT Cruiser found hidden in high weeds across the road from Bogart's property.
Bogart was charged with multiple counts of receiving stolen property, forgery, identity theft and misuse of credit cards and ended up sentenced to six years in prison in September 2011, but served a shorter term due to jail credit.
At the time, he had been considered a person of interest in the homicide investigation, according to published news accounts, but no charges had been filed related to the murder until now.