Bellaire rape suspect headed to grand jury
By MICHAEL SCHULER, Times Leader Staff WriterBELLAIRE - The man accused of raping a 9-year-old girl waived his right to a preliminary hearing and will now have his case go before the Belmont County Grand Jury.
Jeffrey P. Kase, 33, 120 E. 23rd St., Bellaire, was back in Eastern Division Court before Judge D. William Davis on Thursday for the proceedings, along with his attorney Eric Costine.
After Kase waived his right to the hearing, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Scott Lloyd requested the bond continue to remain at $100,000. Costine said his client would agree to keeping the bond amount the same. Kase was then remanded to the Belmont County Jail.
Davis also reminded Kase that he is to have no contact or communication of any kind with the victim or the victim's family and to continue to have counseling.
Kase is charged with one count of first degree felony rape after he was arrested in Martins Ferry by Officer Chip Ghent on Dec 31. Police reported they were advised by Kase's wife of the alleged rape.
Police also said several pieces of evidence were confiscated, including camera equipment, a laptop computer and "sexually oriented material and devices."
The investigation did lead Ghent to Wheeling were some evidence was recovered.
Also back in court was Dimitrios Kriaris, 35, 4154 Trumbull St., Bellaire, who is charged with misdemeanor child endangerment after police received complaints that two of his children, ages 22-months and 3-years-old, were on the porch of his residence and that one of the children had a dog chain, wrapped around him. The chain was attached to a tire that was on the porch on Dec. 30.
Police reported that witnesses told them the children were left unattended to for a "long period of time."
He was also charged with domestic violence following an arrest by Bellaire Police on Dec. 8.
While investigating the complaint at Kriaris' residence on Dec. 30, police also reported finding several bottles of narcotics that were not in proper containers and allegedly packaged in bags for resale.
During Thursday's proceedings, Lloyd requested more time to allow the investigations into the allegations to take place.
"I have spoken to the victim. There are various processes that are going to be taken place beginning this week involving evaluations with Children's Services, " Lloyd said. "Considering the nature and the status of those investigations at this time, both the parties are requesting these matters be bumped down and continued for several weeks to allow this process to take its course."
Davis agreed to the request and continued the matters until Feb. 12 when the defendant is to be back in court at 8:30 a.m. Kriaris, who is free on bond, was also ordered not to return to the house or to have contact with his family.
The judge also questioned Kriaris about seeking counseling with Crossroads, as earlier ordered by Davis. Kriaris said that he had called Crossroads, and is on a waiting list.
Schuler can be reached at shoe@timesleaderonline.com.
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TimSWV
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01-09-09 12:47 PM
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JEFF KASE: Father of 2 (maybe 3 if his latest girlfriend, Nichole also a WVNCC student and married is indeed pregant with his kid but with her history even that is questionable WVNCC student Slimeball !!!
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TimSWV
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01-09-09 12:35 PM
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I hope BUBBA has a long night with this #$%^&*(
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