Court News

LISBON — A New Waterford woman accused of threatening to cut another woman and then shooting at her residence two days later was sentenced to prison for at least six years with another year and a half possible.

Rebecca Lynn Simpson, 54, state Route 7, appeared for sentencing recently in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court before Judge Megan Bickerton.

The sentence was an indefinite term of three to four and a half years for felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and an additional three years for the firearm specification for using a weapon. A nine-month term was issued for improperly handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, but ordered served concurrently at the same time as everything else.

That brought the total to six to seven and a half years.

Charges of second-degree felony improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation or a school safety zone, and misdemeanors of using weapons while intoxicated and aggravated menacing will be dismissed.

According to a police affidavit filed in county Municipal Court, Simpson contacted the other woman’s daughter to say she was going to harm her mother with a box cutter style knife on June 12, 2025. On a video sent to the other woman from her daughter, a female called “Becky” could be heard saying she was going to the residence and telling the woman her grandchild was killed so she’ll open the door, then she said she will cut the woman’s forehead with the box cutter style knife, then cut her legs, mouth and cut her tongue out.

The police affidavit for the June 14, 2025 incident in Liverpool Township said that the victim looked out the side window near her front door and saw Simpson standing outside a grey car pointing a gun at the residence in the direction where the victim was standing and then the victim heard gun shots ring out.

Officers found two spent shell casings and one live round in the driveway in the area where the grey car had been parked. One round grazed the wood trim around the top of the porch and struck the brick above the front door where the victim had been standing. The other round went through a lawn chair and struck the brick.

Simpson fled the area, but crashed her vehicle on Sprucevale Road and was taken into custody by St. Clair Township police. A 9 mm handgun was found under the driver’s seat with a live round in the chamber and additional rounds in the magazine.

Also in Common Pleas Court:

— Taylor Scott Snyder, 35, North Market Street, was ordered to serve a term at the Eastern Ohio Correction Center until the program is successfully completed during sentencing for fourth-degree felony domestic violence and misdemeanor aggravated menacing. He received credit for 180 days served in jail and was placed under community control for three years. A felony charge of strangulation was dismissed. Snyder was accused of beating a woman and saying he was going to kill her on Jan. 29 in East Palestine. The affidavit said he allegedly threw her around like a rag doll, biting her left ear, kicking her in the back of her neck, attempting to gouge her eye out, pulling her earrings out, punching her and putting her in a headlock.

— Marcus Z. Reed, 23, Nittany Drive, Summitville, was ordered to serve 210 days in jail, with credit for 185 days served, leaving a balance of 25 days to serve in jail for violating the terms of his probation for aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, for possessing methamphetamine on Feb. 5, 2024. Once he serves that time, he must serve up to six months at the Eastern Ohio Correction Center for a separate case for pleading guilty to failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer, a third-degree felony. For that case he was also placed under community control for three years and his license was suspended for 36 months for fleeing from law enforcement on Dec. 6, 2025.

— Jaycent Staats, 42, Massillon, was sentenced to a total of 21 months in prison for two separate cases. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison for third-degree felony illegal conveyance of drugs of abuse onto the grounds of a specified governmental facility, and fifth-degree felonies of possession of cocaine and aggravated possession of drugs, with credit for 19 days served. Staats was accused of possessing cocaine and methamphetamine and trying to take drugs into a detention facility on Feb. 4, 2024. He also entered a guilty plea to aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, for possessing methamphetamine on June 21, 2024 and was sentenced to 9 months in prison, with the term to be served consecutively to the 12-month term, bringing the total time to 21 months.

Common Pleas

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Jerry J. Heavener, Youngstown, and Deborah Heavener, Youngstown; dissolution sought.

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