ALLEN COUNTY, OH (WLIO) - The alleged victim in a rape case addressed the court during the first day of a Lima man's jury trial. 

48-year-old Christine Steinke, a former clerk of the Wapakoneta Utilities Department, was charged by the Ohio Attorney General and Auglaize County Prosecutor on thirteen counts of tampering with records and two counts of theft in office. She appeared in Auglaize County Common Pleas Court, where she entered her plea of not guilty to all counts. Her current recognizance bond was also stayed.

Kenneth Cobb had his appeal for a retrial granted by the Ohio Supreme Court, and now has a pre-trial set for December 5th and a jury trial set for January 9th of 2023. The defendant's appeal, which was filed back in 2020, states that certain language was not withheld during the trial. Cobb was previously found not guilty of a 2019 murder but was sentenced to fourteen years in prison for felonious assault with a firearm and having a weapon under disability.

During the opening statements in the trial for 31-year-old Tarockis Greer, lawyers laid out their case to the jury. Prosecutors say that on July 12th, Greer and Durant Tyson went to the home, where three people were recovering from a party the night before. At one point that morning, they say Greer allegedly went upstairs to a bedroom where one of the victims was sleeping and pointed a gun at him.

It took most of the day to set the jury in 19-year-old Jourdyn Rawlins' trial. He was arrested in May 2021 on one count of rape after a victim says that she was spending time with Rawlins in his home when he allegedly forced himself on her. He was indicted again in November of last year for another alleged incident that happened in September of 2020 when he was 17 years old. Both girls are expected to take the stand in during the trial. In opening statements, prosecutors say that in both incidents, Rawlins forced himself on the victims when he was alone with them.

Savion Escarsega is facing a charge of failure to comply by order of an officer. Bond was set in his case at one hundred fifty thousand dollars. He is facing the charge after he led police on a chase after fleeing from a traffic stop. The defendant was reported going at speeds up to sixty miles per hour within city limits. Escarsega eventually crashed his vehicle into a tree, and fled on foot, but was apprehended a short distance away. Two handguns were found in the car during the investigation. A hearing is set for September 8th.

An Allen County man charged with selling drugs that killed two women has been found guilty.

Miller, 19, Van Wert, appeared for hearing on the Prosecutor’s Motion to have the defendant’s held without bond on his pending charges, as a danger to the community. Following the defendant’s waiver of the hearing, the Motion was granted and the defendant was ordered held without bond. Telephone PT set for 8/4/22 at 2 pm. The Defendant also waived his right to a speedy trial.

At the start of the trial, they reduced the number of charges Smith was facing from 83 to 26. Members of the Lima Police Department testified first to talk about how their investigation started, and videos and photos found on two cellphones that were discovered during a search warrant of Smith’s home.

77-year-old Johnny Thomason was sentenced to fourteen and half years to nineteen and a half years in prison. Thomason previously agreed to a plea deal that had him plead guilty to one count of rape, two counts of gross sexual imposition, one count of importuning, and one count of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. The rest of his charges in the case were dismissed.