Boardman woman pleads

guilty to assault charge

to low-level felony assault

YOUNGSTOWN — Rebecca E. Wetherill, 24, of Boardman, pleaded guilty Thursday to low-level felony aggravated assault and attempted discharge of a firearm on or near a prohibited premises in a Dec. 30, 2023, episode in Struthers.

Prosecutors are recommending that Judge Anthony D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentence Wetherill to one year in prison at her sentencing at 10 a.m. April 3.

Wetherill was indicted on felonious assault and other charges in the incident in which her co-defendant was accused of firing shots that struck a car in the driveway of a home on Ninth Street in Struthers. No one was injured.

Some of Wetherill’s charges were amended and some were dismissed in exchange for her plea, according to court documents.

Her co-defendant, Austin W. Beatty, 25, of Youngstown, was sentenced to five to seven years in prison Jan. 3 in the case after pleading guilty to felonious assault and discharging a firearm on or near prohibited premises.

According to a Struthers police report, officers found six spent shell casings in the street and later determined a vehicle was struck.

The primary victim told police he believed Beatty, his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, was responsible. The man said Beatty had attacked the woman earlier in the day and showed police text messages in which Beatty allegedly threatened to shoot up their house, according to police.

The man also showed police security camera footage of a car believed to belong to Beatty or a friend of his. The report states it showed the passenger firing at the house and the car before turning around in a neighbor’s driveway and fleeing the scene.

Prosecutors have said Wetherill was complicit with Beatty in the incident.