Trumbull County Prosecutor says he will fight parole bids of two area convicts

The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office will be fighting the potential paroles of two prison inmates convicted of Trumbull County crimes.

Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has sent letters to the Ohio Adult Parole Authority opposing freedom for both convicted rapist Terrance Stargell and convicted murderer Samuel Paul Totts. Both men will be facing parole hearings in June.

Terrance Stargell

Stargell, 55, who is incarcerated at Chillicothe Correctional Institution is requesting parole for the sixth time. He was given a 15-to70-year sentence for 1987 convictions of rape, felonious assault, aggravated burglary, and gross sexual imposition.

According to information provided by the Prosecutor’s Office, Stargell broke into a southwest-side Warren home of a 62- year-old woman, who was speech impaired, stabbed her dog and then bound the woman and repeatedly raped her, while an accomplice removed items from her home.

In his letter Watkins also noted that Stargell was paroled from prison in 2009 and he then stalked a worker at a dollar store in Campbell. He pulled a knife and threw a gall of milk on the woman’s male co-worker who tried to intervene.

The incident sent Stargell back to prison. In past letters to the parole board, Watkins talked about Stargell’s vicious acts.

“The cruelty, repeated brutality and serial rapes shown to a helpless disabled woman over an expended period of time in her own home is beyond reason and understanding and can only be explained as pure evil,” the prosecutor wrote.

The website Block Parole stated that Stargell should be required to serve his maximum prison sentence of 70 years.

Samuel Paul Totts.

Totts, 49, is housed in Grafton Correctional Institution and is serving a 23-year-to-life sentence for August 1995 convictions of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery in the shooting death of 24-year-old Derrick Trimble in Warren.

This is Totts’ fourth attempt at gaining parole, with the prosecutor’s office successfully opposing his bids in 2011, 2019 and 2022.

In the letter by Watkins stating the reasons for Totts to stay in prison, the prosecutor noted the seriousness of his crimes and his disciplinary problems, including repeated drug use and rule-breaking while incarcerated.

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