A Geneva Township man has been sentenced to prison for an incident that began last year in Perry Township. Stephen Pekarski, 33, was sentenced on Feb. 23 to a minimum of 10 years and up to 12 years in prison by Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Vincent Culotta. On Jan. 27, he pleaded guilty befor e Culotta to a first-degree felony count of kidnapping and a second-degree count of felonious assault. Both of those charges were accompanied by firearm specifications. Pekarski’s sentence stemmed from a June 10 incident, which was initiated prior to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office responding to a residence on Madison Avenue for a kidnapping investigation. It was reported that the boyfriend of the 32-year-old female resident had come to the home and forced the girlfriend into his vehicle using a firearm, and then drove toward Geneva with her in the vehicle, the sheriff’s office stated in a Feb. 23 news release. The woman was able to escape after the man fired a round through the roof of the truck, and she sought police assistance, the news release stated. She had been struck with the firearm itself while inside the truck and received injuries that were not life threatening. Pekarski was apprehended in Geneva a short time later, and then booked into Lake County Jail. ...read more read less