ST. CLAIRSVILLE ­– A second defendant in an extortion scheme against a business owner who was later murdered will spend three years behind bars.

Miana Maylyn Smith, 25, of Guernsey Street, Bellaire, received the maximum sentence of three years in prison when she appeared Monday before Belmont County Common Pleas Judge John Vavra. Her co-defendant, Anthony Michael Dibacco, 31, of the same address, had earlier pleaded guilty and received the same sentence.

Both were charged in September with extorting Thomas Strussion, part owner of two local Salsa Joe’s restaurants. Strussion and his wife, Angela, were found dead in their home along Trails End Drive outside of Belmont on Sept. 21 following the report of a structure fire there. Autopsies were completed and the deaths were ruled a double homicide. It was in the course of conducting the murder investigation that law enforcement discovered Thomas Strussion was being blackmailed and had paid the pair $25,000 to conceal that he and Smith had had an affair.

Defense attorney Josh Norman asked Vavra to consider a suspended sentence with six months in jail and six months of treatment at the Eastern Ohio Correctional Center. The prosecution joined in the recommendation.

“It wasn’t a violent offense. It was initiated by my client and at the end there were some threats made, but I think the state would agree that they were not made by my client,” Norman said.

Norman said Smith had never been convicted of a felony as an adult and has shown remorse.

“I’m very sorry for my action, and I plan on not making a mistake like that again,” Smith said.

Vavra, though, took a grim view of the case.

“Her statement in the presentence investigation is completely inconsistent with the evidence at the motion hearing,” Vavra said of an earlier hearing where he, the defendant and attorneys viewed a video recording of Smith’s interrogation in which she described the crimes. Smith had then decided to enter a guilty plea.

“I heard what was said during the course of that, especially during your statement to the police. What you put in your presentence investigation report statement is entirely inconsistent,” Vavra said, adding the interviews indicated a complete lack of remorse. “Until today there’s been no showing of any remorse, and the court questions the genuineness of that.”

He also reviewed her lengthy history of substance abuse, beginning at a young age.

Smith broke into tears upon being taken into custody.

“We are very pleased with the sentence that the judge imposed,” Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan said. “It was clear from his comments that he did not believe that in any way she was remorseful for the extortion.”

Flanagan said the roles of the two co-defendants were equal, although his office believes Dibacco was the lead instigator of the extortion scheme.

“They’re both in prison, and they both got what they deserve,” Flanagan said.

“These two individuals … took advantage of the kindness of another individual. … The fact-pattern maintained by the defendants may not have been completely accurate, and those statements may have been self-serving,” Flanagan said of the alleged affair.

Belmont County Sheriff David Lucas declined to give further information on the continuing double murder investigation, but he commended his investigators for discovering the extortion.

“They go really deep in the investigation and if there’s any criminal matters that show up like this, they follow through,” Lucas said. “They were able to put it together and they charged. It just shows they were really looking at all angles and no stone unturned.”