Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office opposes potential parole of violent sex offender
The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office is opposing the potential parole of a Trumbull County repeat violent sex offender who is having a parole hearing in July.
Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has written the parole board opposing the release of Brian Clingerman, 55. Clingerman is incarcerated in Noble Correctional Institution after being sentenced in March 24, 1995, to an indefinite term of 12 to 50 years in prison for two convictions of rape.
According to Watkins, these convictions and consecutive prison terms resulted from two separate violent sexual assaults against two separate victims occurring five months apart in August 1994 and January 1995.
Officials said on Aug. 20, 1994, Clingerman used a ladder to enter the bed room of a 33-year old divorcee who lived with her aunt. She was attacked while she slept. When the victim tried to resist, Clingerman struck her in the face bloodying her and hitting her in the head until she became disoriented. He then violently raped her.
On Jan. 18, 1994, Clingerman again forcibly made entry into the home of a 23-year-old mother of two, who was in bed with a three-year-old son and four-year-old daughter when he attacked her. When the victim tried to resist, Clingerman slammed her head on the bed and grabbed her hair. He took her into another bedroom where he raped her.
In letters, Watkins refers to Judge Logan’s fact-finding which included Clingerman’s long criminal history, including 15 separate appearances in juvenile court beginning at age 14 in 1984. He also was sentenced three times to the Department of Youth Services before adulthood.
From ages 18 to 24, Watkins wrote that Clingerman continued his criminal ways and had served a prison term for an attempted burglary conviction, being released from prison some three months prior to that first rape in 1994.
“Clingerman would be extremely dangerous to women and society at large if released. He is truly a poster person for sexual predator, period.” Watkins wrote the parole board.