Not guilty pleas entered

By Press Staff Writer
A Lake Township man accused of rape, felonious assault and kidnapping has entered a plea of not guilty in Wood County Common Pleas Court.
A pre-trial hearing for Steven M. Finch, II, is scheduled for March 9. His bond has been set at $500,000.
A grand jury last month indicted Finch on 19 counts of rape, five counts of kidnapping, five counts of felonious assault with sexual motivation and one count of felonious assault. The alleged victim is his wife.
The charges include sexually violent predator specifications.
Finch, if convicted, faces multiple life sentences without parole.

Theft, forgery case
A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for April 16 in the case of a construction business owner accused of theft, forgery and money laundering.
Ralph Slaske, Jr., entered a not guilty plea during a Feb. 26 arraignment hearing in common pleas court.
Slaske, of Lakewood Ranch, Florida, was allowed a recognizance bond with the condition he sign a waiver of extradition. He will be allowed to attend the pre-trial hearing via Zoom.
According to the indictment, he defrauded multiple customers, banks and subcontractors and closed his business in February, 2018, leaving projects incomplete and some not even started although he had taken payment for them.
He faces a maximum penalty of 14-18 years in prison.
The Perrysburg Police Department and an investigator from the county prosecutor’s office spent months interviewing alleged victims and collating data before presenting the case to the grand jury.