Three Elyria residents convicted of 'significant' child abuse get prison terms

ELYRIA — Three Elyria residents convicted of what an assistant prosecutor called the "significant" and "tragic" abuse of two children over the span of nearly three years were sent to prison for decades on Monday. Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Melissa Kobasher handed down lengthy prison sentences to Joseph Simmons, his wife, Susan Simmons, and her daughter, Savanna Jones, who were accused of verbally, physically and mentally — and in Joseph Simmons' case, sexually — abusing two young girls who were in Susan Simmons' custody. The most severe sentence was reserved for Joseph Simmons, 66, who was sentenced to life without parole on a child rape conviction. He was convicted by a jury of two counts of rape; one count each of kidnapping with a sexual motive, abduction and felonious assault; and five counts of endangering children, including three felonies and two misdemeanors. "I'm innocent," Joseph Simmons said in court, where he also was labeled a Tier III sex offender — the most serious designation. Susan Simmons, 56, was sentenced to 29 to 34 years in prison. She was convicted at trial of one count each of kidnapping, felonious assault and abduction, plus five counts of endangering children, which were three felonies and two misdemeanors. Susan Simmons sobbed as she recalled a court fight to get custody of the children, who are not blood relatives but whose biological parents lost custody of them. "I didn't starve the children," Susan Simmons said. "I did what I thought was right." Jones, 34, was sentenced to 22 to 27 years in prison. She asked Kobasher only to "have mercy on me." A jury convicted all three defendants, of East River Street, at trial in Kobasher's court in early May. All three plan to appeal, their attorneys said. The children were abused for nearly three years, from 2020 to 2023, according to the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office and an Elyria Police Department investigation. One victim was overfed, while another was starved. One of the girls had her back broken and didn't get proper treatment for it, and her ankle also was broken, prosecutors and a family member said in court. The children were put in dog cages and forced to eat feces. They were made to stand on an "X" on the floor surrounded by mousetraps. One was banned from the dining room table and not allowed to use the bathroom to relieve herself. "I can't think of worse things that could happen to a child," Assistant Prosecutor Tina Kishman said in court, adding that Joseph Simmons put the victims through "extraordinarily evil things." The children suffered "significant" physical harm, Kishman said. Jones served as Susan Simmons' "lackey," doing what she was told to do, said Kishman, who prosecuted the trio with fellow assistant prosecutor Mark Koza. Kishman said it was fortunate that doctors, social workers and teachers "did not give up" on the victims, who are now in counseling. The victims' grandmother, whom The Chronicle-Telegram is not naming to protect the victims' identities, said Joseph Simmons "should be castrated." She called Susan Simmons "a hateful human being." Corrigan questioned whether there was enough evidence to convict his client, Susan Simmons, who has no prior criminal record. A woman in her 50s doesn't just start abusing children, Corrigan and his client said in court "I'm not a monster," Susan Simmons told Kobasher. "At 50 years old I didn't just decide to be a monster one day. I would have given my life for them kids." Corrigan also said in court that one of the victims had accused a school official of abuse, an allegation that was proved completely false following an investigation. "That gives me reasonable doubt," Corrigan said. Joseph Simmons has no prior criminal history, defense attorney Catherine Meehan said in court. "My client maintains his innocence in this case," she said. Jones has a prior conviction for arson in 2018, but no other criminal history and cried every time the victims testified in court, defense attorney John Toth said. Court records said it wasn't the first time the children were removed from an abusive home. The girls' birth parents raised them in "horrendous environments" in Scioto County in southern Ohio without working plumbing or food in the refrigerator, Corrigan wrote in court documents. The biological father, who at one point was married to Jones, gave Susan Simmons — who was not a blood relative — custody and she fought in court to keep the girls. Corrigan wrote that one of the children showed "strange self-abusive behavior" and another "behavioral problems towards others" which were documented in hospital records. There was also disagreement over what caused some of the victims' injuries, but "somehow Susan is to blame for every one," he wrote. Susan Simmons denied having dog cages and investigators didn't find any dog cages, according to Corrigan. He questioned testimony by teachers and a social worker, the latter of whom did an investigation that "resulted in an immediate contradiction of the accusations." Corrigan asked Kobasher to postpone sentencing while his client appealed. She denied the request. Susan Simmons also said in court that she regretted allowing an unrelated woman, Mariah Hanicq, to watch the children. Hanicq, now 31, pleaded guilty in December to two counts of rape, two counts of kidnapping and one count each of felonious assault and endangering children, all felonies, for her role in the child abuse. She was sentenced to 6 to 9 years in prison and labeled a Tier III sex offender. Corrigan wrote that Hanicq couldn't be ruled out as committing some of the crimes blamed on his client. Hanicq's former attorney rejected that. "The jury got it right" when it held the Simmonses and Jones accountable, said Kenneth Lieux, a former criminal defense attorney who was elected Vermilion Municipal Court judge last year. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.