Amherst man pleads guilty to role in cover-up of alleged 2025 hit-and-run that injured woman, killed dog

An Amherst man has admitted helping his son try to cover up a crash in December 2025 in which the younger man allegedly hit a woman and her dog with his father's car, then fled the scene. John Bankston, 86, of North Quarry Road, pleaded guilty Wednesday to tampering with evidence, a felony, and obstructing official business, a misdemeanor, in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. His trial on those charges had been scheduled to begin Thursday. Instead, Judge Christopher Rothgery accepted John Bankston's guilty plea, found him guilty and scheduled sentencing for Oct. 28. The Lorain County Prosecutor's Office agreed to recommend community control, formerly called probation, as a sentence according to court documents. The maximum John Bankston faced under Ohio law was 36 months in prison. Defense attorney Maggie Lieux said she didn't have a comment on her client's behalf. John Bankston was accused of helping Sean Bankston cover up the hit-skip Amherst police were seeking following the Dec. 20 crash that injured Jessica Paige and killed her dog. Sean Bankston, 34, also of North Quarry Road in Amherst, is free on bond. He has pleaded not guilty to felonious assault, aggravated vehicular assault, vehicular assault, failure to stop after an accident, tampering with evidence and cruelty to companion animals, all felonies, plus misdemeanor charges of DUI, obstructing official business, operating in willful disregard of safety and a lane violation. His trial is set for Oct. 13 in Rothgery's courtroom. Sean Bankston allegedly was intoxicated while driving his father's 2012 Chevrolet Malibu LTZ when he hit Paige, 65, and Ishe, her rescued 10-year-old pit bull mix, near Rome Beauty Drive and North Quarry Road on Dec. 20. Authorities said Paige suffered skull, neck, hip, knee and ankle fractures and Ishe was killed. They said Sean Bankston drove away. Prosecutors said John Bankston and Levi Toth, a Bankston family relative, got rid of evidence at Sean Bankston's request after he was arrested. Toth, 34, of Wakeman Township in Huron County, pleaded guilty Sept. 10 to tampering with evidence, a felony, and obstructing official business, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors and his attorney agreed to recommend community control when Rothgery sentences him on Oct. 14. Contact Dave O'Brien at 440-329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.