Youngstown woman sentenced on charges she raped relative

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A North Side woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday after she pleaded guilty earlier this month to a rape charge.

Judge Anthony D’Apolito gave the sentence to Susan Molleken, 41, who pleaded guilty July 16 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to a charge of rape, a first-degree felony.

Assistant Prosecutor Caitlyn Andrews asked the judge to impose a sentence of 10 years, saying the damage Molleken did to the victim over a period of several years would haunt the victim for the rest of their life.

Andrews also read a statement from the victim that detailed the sexual, mental and physical abuse she was subjected to by Molleken and her husband, co-defendant Christopher Figueroa. The victim reported suffering from anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder because of the abuse she endured.

“It takes away a part of you. It violates you,” the statement said of the abuse. “It makes you feel like your body isn’t your own.”

Figueroa also pleaded guilty and is expected to be sentenced in September.

Defense attorney Lynn Maro asked for a sentence of less than 10 years. She said a psychological evaluation prepared on behalf of her client found that she was controlled and abused by her husband and suffers from ADHD and other disabilities which made her easily manipulated by someone like her husband.

Molleken was also raped and abused as a child, Maro said.

“She was never in the position where she had the strength or ability to speak out,” Maro said.

Molleken tearfully apologized.

Judge D’Apolito acknowledged the “horrific life” Molleken had but he also said that should have spurred her on to stop the abuse from happening and from participating in it herself.

He said he would have given her a maximum sentence of 11 years, but Andrews told the judge the victim thought 10 years was an appropriate sentence, so the judge agreed with her recommendation.

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