JEFFERSON — Convicted sex offender Louis Candela, 54, of Ashtabula, will spend the next eight years in prison after being sentenced Friday on four felony counts.
Common Pleas Judge Gary Yost sentenced Candela to eight years on three counts of attempted rape and five years on one count of gross sexual imposition. The total years will be served concurrently with Candela being in for at least eight years, the judge said.
“There is no denying the seriousness of this case. Each of the counts represents four victims,” Yost said adding Candela was not suitable for community control.
Candela, in jail stripe clothes, sat quietly. He expressed little emotion as his attorney, Public Defender Marie Lane told the judge that one victim was “mistakenly” included in the presentence report. Lane wanted Yost to designate her client as a sexually oriented offender not a sexual predator.
Yost replied he was aware of the mistake in the report. It was determined that the statute of limitations prevented using that older victim’s testimony given to investigators.
County assistant prosecutor, Margaret Draper, requested Yost make Candela’s prison sentence run concurrently. She also said that severity of Candela’s crimes require he be designated as a sexual predator under the Adam Walsh Act legislation, which is under appeal in the courts at the present time.
Candela had changed his “not guilty” plea March 24, then agreed to plead guilty to four of 20 original sex related offense charges against him.
Candela entered an Alford plea , which permits a defendant to maintain his innocence while agreeing to forego his right to trial. Draper and Lane agreed to a negotiated plea deal before the March 24 hearing. Yost convicted Candela’s on guilty pleas to the four felony charges.
Yost had delayed the sentencing since March for a forensic evaluation and pre-sentence report. Minutes before sentencing Candela, the judge allowed a victim’s father, Lester Johnson, to make a brief statement.
“Lou is a snake in the grass. He is a pedophile and has been for a long time. He deserves the maximum ... he is no good,” Johnson said in an emotionally choked voice.
Johnson also told the judge that Candela’s acts have scarred the lives of the minor victims and whole families. Candela refused to make a statement to his family members, who sat in the courtroom gallery.
Yost credited Candela with 435 days spent in Ashtabula County jail in rendering the eight year prison term. Candela was designated a sexual predator. Under such a designation, the defendant is required to report every 90 days to local law enforcement officials where he resides. If he violates any of the post-release restrictions Candela could end up facing added felony charges, Yost said.
Local News
Convicted sex offender sentenced
Louis Candela to spend next eight years in prison
- Local News
-
-
Murder suspect kills self at mother’s grave
Madison Township police officers found the body of a murder suspect in the Alexander Harper Cemetery on Thursday afternoon, ending a day-long, multi-county manhunt.
-
Presses stopped
It was June 23, 1969.
-
Airport takes off with a new name
A new name for the Ashtabula County Airport is winding its way through the regulatory channels.
-
Property owners must pay for meth labs in Jefferson
An ordinance requiring landowners to pay for the clean-up costs of clandestine drug labs was unanimously adopted by Village Council.
-
Elections board gets help with time-consuming tasks
A Xenia company specializing in election services will take on some time-consuming tasks that should help contain the Ashtabula County Board of Elections’ labor costs, members said.
-
Commissioners pay to get the business
Commissioners on Tuesday approved a $15,000 contract with Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County to provide business service representation on behalf of the county’s One-Stop job training center.
-
Grand Valley sixth grader wins Ashtabula County Spelling Bee
James Elliott, a sixth grader at Grand Valley Middle School, clinched his win of the 29th annual Ashtabula County Area V Spelling Bee by successfully spelling the words “physique” and “daffodil.”
-
Sports, academics to come together
SPIRE Institute will expand its educational base and accept international students into its sports performance programs through a partnership with the Andrews Osborne Academy, Ted Meekma, SPIRE management team member, announced Wednesday.
-
Conneaut Chamber lauds top citizen, ‘Champions’
Nicholas Iarocci, Conneaut’s 2011 Citizen of the Year, needed plenty of gulps of water to complete his acceptance speech Tuesday night.
-
Felony charge filed in robbery
An Ashtabula woman who police said grabbed a woman’s purse inside a Conneaut supermarket late Monday afternoon faces a felony charge in Conneaut Municipal Court, according to reports.
- More Local News Headlines
-
