75-year-old guilty of attempted unlawful restraint for grabbing 18-year-old woman

5/6/2006

BOWLING GREEN - A charge of attempted abduction was dismissed yesterday in Wood County Common Pleas Court against a Lake Township man who pleaded no contest to a lesser charge in Perrysburg Municipal Court.

Ralph Pierce, 75, was found guilty Tuesday of attempted unlawful restraint. Judge S. Dwight Osterud sentenced him to one year of inactive probation and a suspended 30-day jail sentence on the condition Mr. Pierce remain on good behavior.

Mr. Pierce was arrested last June by Northwood police after calling an 18-year-old woman over to his vehicle and asking her to go with him. When she refused, he grabbed her shirt and tried to pull her toward him. The woman broke free and fled, police said.