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A Sheffield man has been found guilty of violating his probation and appears set to return to state prison.
Tyler Ordiway, 26, had been sentenced in 2021 by former Judge Maureen Skerda in the Court of Common Pleas to 10 to 30 months incarceration, $2,025 in fines and fees, sex offender treatment and submission of a DNA sample on a count of third-degree felony child pornography. Skerda explained that this offense brings a 15 year registration period as a sexual offender and that Ordiway was not boot camp or recidivism risk reduction incentive eligible. He was sentenced to another 10 to 20 months on a count of statutory sexual assault and two years probation on a count of corruption of minors.
Online court docket information shows Ordiway was released in October 2025 from SCI Smithfield, with the conditions of his probation set with the Warren County Adult Probation Unit on Oct. 30, 2025. A probation order to detain Ordiway was filed on June 26, 2026, by the county Adult Probation Unit, with Ordiway jailed on June 27.
A Gagnon II hearing was scheduled July 9 to be held in August. A Gagnon II hearing takes place before a judge in the Court of Common Pleas, with the prosecution presenting testimony, documents or police reports to prove a probation violation while the defense can cross-examine witnesses, object to evidence and present mitigating testimony or a compliance plan for the future. Unlike a standard criminal trial where guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, a Gagnon II hearing only requires a preponderance of the evidence, which legally means it is more likely than not that a violation happened.
Judges then have the option of sentencing the defendant to a new period of jail or prison time, giving credit for time successfully complying with terms of probation or alternative sentencing like being ordered into inpatient or outpatient drug treatment, extended probation or community service.
During that Aug. 20 hearing, Judge Todd Woodin of the Court of Common Pleas sentenced Ordiway to another 1.6 to 4.6 years in prison as well five years of probation.
Then, on Aug. 24, another supervisor's warrant for violations was filed by the county's Adult Probation Unit, leading to another Gagnon II hearing in the Court of Common Pleas on Aug. 31. After the hearing, Ordiway was sentenced to another 1.6 to 4.6 years of confinement by Judge Woodin as well as an additional five years of probation.
The original charges stem from incidents between Oct. 1, 2019, and Jan. 12, 2020. A girl's cell phones were taken into evidence and sent to the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crime Lab in Meadville. A report and consultation with the lab indicate that “four videos, approximately 144 pictures and hundreds of pages of text messages” were extracted from the phones and, per the affidavit, “confirmed the information previously disclosed.”
During a forensic interview, a girl said she had sex with Ordiway twice in one day prior to her 16th birthday as well as “on and after her 16th birthday.”
“They had then driven to a wooded area in his vehicle, again being provided alcoholic beverages. The victim stated the next thing she remembered was waking the next morning in (Ordiway’s bedroom) and being told to ‘Check her phone.'”
When he was charged, Ordiway was serving a county jail sentence on statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors charges after having sex with a 13-year-old girl.