Youngstown Daily Legal News

Circleville man who used blackmail to have sex with 14-year-old loses appeal

JESSICA SHAMBAUGH
Special to the Legal News
Published: October 16, 2014

A 4th District Court of Appeals panel recently affirmed maximum consecutive sentences for a man who extorted a 14-year-old girl for sex.

Before the three-judge appellate panel, Paul Andrew McClain argued that his convictions for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor were against the manifest weight of the evidence and that the Pickaway County Court of Common Pleas improperly sentenced him to a maximum prison term.

The facts of the case state that McClain first came to the Circleville Police Department’s attention after two of his female friends found suspicious photos on his Facebook page.

The women, Jennifer Greeno and Penelope Hyatt, testified that they often played cards with McClain.

In December 2012, the group was playing euchre while McClain drank, Hyatt took pictures and Greeno tagged those photos on Facebook.

At one point, Greeno complained that she could not get the photos to load on McClain’s Facebook page.

The women said McClain responded by giving Greeno his log-in information and telling her how to change his security settings. She was then able to upload the photos and the group continued playing cards.

Later in the evening, McClain passed out on the kitchen table and the women read his messages on his Facebook.

They told the court they saw pictures of a young girl in her underwear and another of her completely nude.

Greeno said she also noticed a sexual conversation between McClain and the girl and it seemed like the girl was being “blackmailed.”

She said one message asked the girl if she was pregnant.

The women then went to the girl’s Facebook page and ascertained that she was a high school student. Ultimately, they left the house and reported what they found.

Det. Phillip Roar testified that he spoke with Greeno and Hyatt on Jan. 3, 2013.

Based on their reports, he spoke to S.F., who affirmed that she was the girl in the photos. She also told him that she was 14 years old and a high school freshman.

S.F. told Roar that she had sent the photos to “Chris Miller,” a Facebook friend whom she considered her “boyfriend she never met.” She said Miller was 17 and attended Zane Trace High School.

Roar used several databases but was unable to locate a Chris Miller who matched that description.

S.F. testified that she started messaging Miller on Facebook when she was 13. She said he asked her for “dirty” pictures and she eventually relented.

Shortly after she sent the photos, S.F. said Miller told her he sold his cellphone and it’s memory card with the pictures to McClain.

S.F. said she knew McClain from church and knew he was best friends with Miller.

She told the court McClain started texting her after buying the phone and told her they had to have sex for the pictures to “go away.”

S.F.’s brother refused to let her meet McClain away from the house, so he went to her home.

Her brother said McClain told him Miller had a lot of money, a nice car and always had girls chasing him.

After about 45 minutes, McClain left and texted S.F. that because they didn’t have sex he was going to the cops with the pictures.

S.F. then agreed to meet him behind the YMCA and she said McClain digitally penetrated her and they performed oral sex on each other. She said she did not want to have sex but agreed to let him “put it in 10 times.”

After that, the encounter ended and McClain handed her two pictures. S.F. said she believed they would be deleted.

She maintained contact with Miller and a couple weeks later he told her that McClain still had the pictures and would take them to her parents if she didn’t have sex with him.

She agreed and met McClain behind the YMCA again where they had sex.

After it was over, McClain showed her that he deleted the pictures and she walked home.

She continued texting Miller who told her he drove a Corvette and was really rich. They set up dates but he failed to keep them.

During an interview with police, McClain gave police a phone number for Miller that was no longer in service.

He refused to give a second number and told Roar to “figure it out.”

He also denied having sexual relations with S.F. and insisted that 10 to 15 people had access to his Facebook page and could have sent the messages.

Roar eventually determined that the photo S.F. said Miller used on his Facebook page belonged to porn star Brent Corrigan.

A jury ultimately found McClain guilty of two counts of unlawful sex with a minor.

The trial court sentenced him to consecutive maximum terms of eight years in prison and he appealed, first challenging his sentence.

Upon review, the appellate panel determined that the trial court used all the appropriate verbiage when explaining its findings to support consecutive sentences, including a need to protect the public, McClain’s chances of reoffending and the severity of his offenses.

The trial court further noted that McClain committed the worst form of the offense because he “extorted this young lady basically for sex, based upon the threat to reveal the pictures and nude photographs he had of her to the law enforcement authorities.”

“The record reflects that the trial court considered the purposes and principles of felony sentencing under R.C. 2929.11, and balanced the seriousness and recidivism factors under R.C. 2929.12,” Judge Matthew McFarland wrote, overruling the first assignment of error.

McClain then challenged the manifest weight of the evidence.

The appellate judges held, however, that the jury found the testimony from the state’s witnesses more credible than McClain’s own testimony and ruled that the jury was in the best position to determine credibility.

They wrote that it appeared, based on that testimony, that McClain had created a fake Facebook page under the name Chris Miller and used that page to create a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl.

“This testimony further demonstrated appellant’s actions as threatening and manipulative,” Judge McFarland wrote.

The judges found that the testimony established all elements of the crimes for which McClain was convicted and upheld those convictions.

“Under these circumstances, we decline to substitute our judgment for that of the jury.”

Presiding Judge Peter Abele and Judge Marie Hoover concurred.

The case is cited State v. McClain, 2014-Ohio-4192.

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