A Trenton man made his first court appearance Monday to face charges from a three county police chase on Friday. 32yo Johnathon Brown appeared in Franklin Municipal Court, and was ordered held under $750 dollars bond by Judge Ronald Ruppert, who set a preliminary hearing for Friday afternoon. The chase ended when Brown crashed his  pickup truck into a moving train in Miamisburg, then held police at bay in a standoff that lasted several hours at the accident scene.

The fire that destroyed the former Beckett Paper Company office building on Dayton Street late Wednesday afternoon is being called suspicious, according to Hamilton City Manager Craig Bucheit. The blaze broke out around 4:30pm, and had spread to all floors in less than 10 minutes. Firefighters from several nearby jurisdictions provided mutual aid at the scene. Bucheit says the building partially collapsed onto Dayton Street, and a demolition team was brought in to knock down what was left of the structure, while firefighters continued to spray water on the smouldering ruins. Bucheit says there was no electricity in the building, which is why they believe the fire may have been the result of a criminal act. No injuries were reported. The city had purchased the property in recent years, with plans to re-develop the area, which sits close to downtown.

 

(Photo Courtesy of Doug Crawford)

A Liberty Township man has been bound over to a Butler County grand jury on two rape charges. 32 year old Kyle Plummer is accused of sexually abusing a young girl over a six year period, starting when she was five years old. Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones could barely contain his anger when announcing the arrest, calling Plummer a "low life, pitiful individual" as well as a "piece of s**t." Court documents say Plummer confessed to at least two incidents in 2023, bribing the victim with a nicotine vape pen if she promised not to tell anyone. Plummer is being held in the Butler County Jail on $250,000 bond for each count.