Grand Jury

LISBON — An East Palestine man accused of uploading videos of children being sexual assaulted or engaging in sex acts will face 18 felony counts related to his alleged possession of the material.

Austin Michael Bowers, 30, North Market Street, was one of 12 defendants openly indicted by the Columbiana County Grand Jury this week. The grand jury met for two days and issued the dozen open indictments and 33 secret indictments for a total of 45 cases. Secret indictments aren’t made public until the defendants are served with the paperwork.

Bowers was charged with three counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person, a second-degree felony, 11 counts of fourth-degree felony pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person and four counts of fifth-degree felony illegal use of minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance.

According to an affidavit that was issued in county Municipal Court when the case was originally filed against Bowers, on Aug. 21, 2025, he was allegedly flagged by Dropbox for allegedly uploading a video depicting a child being sexually assaulted by an adult male to their platform. Another company also flagged a video allegedly transmitted by the defendant through their platform which also depicted a juvenile girl under the age of 18 engaging in sex acts with a man. The three second-degree counts of the indictment all stem from Aug. 21, 2025.

The rest of the counts in the indictment all stem from March 18 this year when investigators executed a search warrant at his East Palestine home.

Other open indictments issued included:

— Marcus Lee White, 43, Mulberry Street, East Liverpool, felonious assault, a second-degree felony and fourth-degree felony domestic violence for allegedly causing serious physical harm to another man, striking the victim in the head multiple times while punching him and kicking him, rendering the victim unconscious as police and EMS arrived on March 25 in East Liverpool.

— Terry M. McDaniel, 30, Alliance Sebring Road, Alliance, fifth-degree felony strangulation and misdemeanor assault for allegedly punching another man in the face with a closed fist and placing him in a chokehold, causing him to struggle to breathe and speak on April 21 in Lisbon.

— Kazon Latif Carter, 26, Youngstown, third-degree felony strangulation and misdemeanors of theft, domestic violence and criminal damaging for allegedly grabbing a woman by the throat and beginning to strangle her on Sept. 15, 2025 in East Liverpool. The affidavit said the victim struggled to breathe and blacked out. Carter was also yelling at her and after the assault, he slammed his head against the wall, breaking a large hole in the drywall. He also allegedly stole her cell phone.

— Kevin S. Neely, 44, state Route 45, Lisbon, second-degree felony aggravated possession of drugs, and fourth-degree felonies of possession of cocaine and domestic violence for allegedly spitting on a woman several times, pushing her several times at one point against a glass door, throwing a bottle of soda at her and threatening her on Feb. 17 in Lisbon. He also allegedly possessed methamphetamine in an amount equal or greater than five times bulk but less than 50 times bulk and 1 to 5 grams cocaine.

— Amber Price Yatro, 55, Bloomfield Road, East Liverpool, breaking and entering, a fifth-degree felony, for allegedly breaking into a man’s storage unit in St. Clair Township by prying open the wall between her unit and his to remove items on April 22 at Bolt Storage.