Girard man gets year in prison for smashing Trumbull court windows

A Girard man appeared in the Trumbull County Courthouse on Thursday where he was sentenced for smashing the windows of that same building causing thousands of dollars worth of damages.
Christopher Gembicki, 37, who pleaded guilty earlier to a fifth-degree count of vandalism, was handed a 12-month prison term by Judge Ronald Rice.
The charge stems from an incident that occurred in October when Gembicki broke four first-floor windows on the Trumbull County Courthouse.
Surveillance video shows Gembicki throwing a rock into a double-paned window multiple times. A similar incident involving a different suspect occurred in November of 2021.
As part of a plea deal, Gembicki must submit to a payment plan to cover the cost of damages to the courthouse. He must pay $3,490 in damages.
Judge Rice noted that Gembicki’s criminal record began at the age of 14 and included a federal prison term in 2017 for a conviction for threats against the President of the United States.
In 2016, Gembicki was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for making threats against President Barack Obama.
According to a Secret Service affidavit, in 2014, Gembicki posted a series of racially charged Facebook messages about assassinating then-President Barack Obama and also threatening the lives of a Cleveland area woman and her two infant children.