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WELLSBURG -- The Brooke County grand jury on Monday indicted 22 people, including a pair accused of child abuse and neglect.
Robert Spera, 42, and Jodie Lynn Pratt, 41, both of 565 Allegheny St., Follansbee, were each indicted for child abuse resulting in injury and five counts of child neglect creating substantial risk of death or serious injury.
According to the indictment, Spera and Pratt struck a child in their care in the leg with fists and other objects, leaving bruises, between Oct. 20 and Feb. 28.
It also alleges multiple children lived with the pair in a home "infested with cockroaches and bedbugs and in otherwise deplorable conditions."
The case was investigated by the West Virginia State Police.
Also indicted were:
≤ Craig Allen Eakle, 40, of 2721 St. John's Road, Colliers, for malicious assault for allegedly striking another man in the back with a two-by-four on April 22 following a dispute involving the sale of a deck.
≤ Manuel Joel Reeves Jr., 47, of Massillon, for strangulation and domestic battery for allegedly attempting to choke a woman known to him and squeezed her hand.
≤ Charles John Williams, 45, of 101 Spring St., Follansbee, for strangulation and unlawful assault for allegedly attempting to choke a man known to him striking him repeatedly in the face and body.
≤ Dustin William Geary, 30, of Follansbee, for third-offense domestic violence and intimidating a witness for allegedly throwing things at a woman known to him while threatening her and following his arrest, calling her from jail to threaten her.
≤ William Bish, 54, of Wheeling and Roy Neil, 39, of Slovan, Pa., both for grand larceny, burglary and conspiring to commit burglary for allegedly entering a Wellsburg home and taking firearms, knives, ammunition and electronics.
≤ Charles Ray Brady, 53, of 405 North Eighth St., Steubenville, for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, methamphetamine, and being a convicted person in possession of a firearm.
≤ Braxton Jesse Bone, 22, of 1436 Charles St., Wellsburg, for fleeing an officer with reckless indifference for allegedly refusing to stop for a Brooke County sheriff's deputy and instead, accelerating to high speeds, proceeding erratically, on state Route 2 in Follansbee.
≤ Madison Mackenzie Buxton, 20, of 210 Manor Drive, Wellsburg, for fraudulent scheme and four counts of fraud in connection with an access device for allegedly using a computer app to transfer $3,450 from another's account.
≤ Aaron Patrick Fisher, 35, of 619 Grandview Ave., Steubenville, for grand larceny and entering a building other than a dwelling to commit a larceny for allegedly stealing more than $1,000 of a cannabis product from a Weirton business.
≤ Brandon Lee Gear, 38, of Wellsburg for burglary and grand larceny for allegedly breaking into a Wellsburg home and taking an assault rifle, two pistols and ammunition.
≤ Thomas James Goff, 36, of 20 Lindsey Ave., Wellsburg, for burglary for allegedly ripping off a porch gate and entering a home with a homemade knife with the intention of harming its occupant.
≤ Carl Bentley Hicks, 21, of Sandusky, Ohio, for fleeing from an officer with reckless disregard for allegedly refusing to stop for a Weirton police officer and instead, accelerated to high speeds, weaving in and out of lanes and through a construction zone on U.S. Route 22.
≤ Steven Scott Iverson II, 25, of 3400 Genteel Ridge, Wellsburg, for fleeing from an officer with reckless disregard while driving under the influence for allegedly refusing to stop for Brooke County sheriff's deputies and instead accelerating to a high speed while weaving in and out of lanes before crashing his vehicle on Archer Hill Road in Follansbee.
≤ Jared Timothy Miller, 28, of Avella, Pa., for three counts of possession, with intent to deliver, three controlled substances: marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin.
≤ Sean Eugene Miller, 28, of 3306 Orchard St., Weirton, and Jason Douglas Rodgers, 41, of 3106 Orchard St., Weirton both for two counts of fraud using an access device and three counts of conspiring for allegedly using another's debit card to purchase items or attempting to do so.
≤ Monty Summers, 70, of 210 Arch St., Follansbee, for two counts of failing to register as a sex offender for allegedly failing to notify police of a change to his phone number and that he had stayed with someone else for more than 10 days.
≤ William Dean Tredway, 33, of 15 Fourth St., Beech Bottom, for burglary for entering a Beech Bottom home with the intent to commit a larceny.
≤ Trashaun Michael Withers, 25, of 342 Orr St., Weirton, for two counts each of being a convicted person in possession of a firearm and violation of a protective order for allegedly making contact with the victim of a crime he committed and having a concealed pistol in his possession.
(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)