An inmate at the Northeast Ohio Community Alternative Program (NEOCAP) has been kicked out of the program and sentenced to prison for selling drugs at the facility.

According to the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office, 50-year-old Val Bender of Warren was sentenced to 60 months in prison after admitting to violating his probation that included being dismissed from NEOCAP because he was selling drugs at the facility.

Bender was serving probation after being convicted of trafficking in cocaine and having weapons under disability in September of 2023.

Prosecutors say Bender sold drugs to other inmates who were also dismissed from the program and handed prison sentences.

Prosecutors say Bender's criminal record dates back to 1999 with over 16 misdemeanor convictions and 12 felony convictions. The most serious of those was aggravated robbery and kidnapping convictions with firearm specifications.

That earned Bender a 15-year prison sentence.

"This is not the person who deserves any kind of break," said assistant prosecutor Charles Morrow.