Daniel Fleischer, right, talks to his attorney, John Juhasz, after Fleischer’s plea hearing ended Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Fleischer pleaded guilty to one count of rape with a recommendation that he get five years in prison, added to the 37-year sentence he is serving in federal court for similar offenses.

YOUNGSTOWN — Daniel B. Fleischer, 42, who is serving a 37-year federal prison sentence imposed in 2019 for taking still images of himself sexually assaulting a young girl in 2011, pleaded guilty to rape Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

His plea agreement calls for him to get an additional five years in prison for the rape, which the defense and prosecution agree are based on the same set of facts that resulted in the federal prison sentence.

Judge Anthony Donofrio will sentence Fleischer at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Fleischer, formerly of Youngstown, also will now also be a tier-3 sex offender and will have to register his address every 90 days for life.

Kevin Day, county assistant prosecutor, said Monday he will talk more about the differences between the prosecutions in federal court and common pleas court after Wednesday’s sentencing. Another rape count and five counts of gross sexual imposition were dismissed Monday in exchange for Fleischer’s guilty plea to the rape.

The victim was about 10 years old in 2010 and 2011 when the offense occurred, according to Fleisher’s indictment.

John Juhasz, Fleischer’s attorney, told Donofrio the case “as you know has a long and twisted history.” He was referring to an appeal that was filed in the case in 2022 arguing that Mahoning County prosecutors trying to convict Fleischer a second time for offenses involving the same facts as his federal case should not be allowed.

Fleischer lost that appeal in September of 2023 when the 7th District Court of Appeals ruled that the “‘dual sovereign’ doctrine permits prosecution by both the State of Ohio and the federal court system based on the same set of underlying facts,” according to the ruling.

Fleischer was convicted in federal court of sexual exploitation of children and receipt and distribution of child pornography. He has been in the Mahoning County jail awaiting completion of his common pleas court case since April 29, 2024, according to Mahoning County jail records.

Juhasz also was referring to a motion he and another attorney filed in the case in January asking that the charges be dismissed against Fleischer because of a Mahoning County jail policy that allowed jail officials to open inmate mail from his attorneys, copy it, give the inmate the copy, then put the original in the inmate’s file.

Jail officials said the policy was established to ensure that inmates were not receiving drugs and other contraband through the mail. But Fleischer’s attorneys argued the policy made it impossible for them to guarantee that jail personnel were not reading attorney- client-privileged mail.

The argument persuaded Donofrio to rule Sept. 10 that the jail policy had to be changed. He ordered that attorney-client mail coming to the inmate through the U.S. Mail be opened by jail personnel, copied, the copy given to the inmate and the original returned to the attorney instead of retained by jail personnel.

On Monday, Sheriff Jerry Greene confirmed that the sheriff’s office did, in fact, change its policy almost immediately to comply with the judge’s ruling.

Juhasz also raised other issues in the common pleas court case, questioning the validity of search warrants issued for Fleischer’s home in the 1600 block of Weston Avenue in Youngstown in 2018 and arguing that Fleischer was not read his rights early enough. Donofrio ruled against that motion last week.