A 32-year-old woman wanted on an aggravated burglary charge is the target of a joint manhunt by Youngstown Police and federal marshals, who are dangling cash for tips that lead to her capture. Jessica Dothard stands about 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs roughly 137 pounds, and is known to frequent the Youngstown, Akron and Cleveland areas, according to the release.
Dothard is wanted by Youngstown Police and the U.S. Marshals Service for aggravated burglary, per the release cited by Cleveland 19 News. The U.S. Marshals are offering reward money for information leading to her arrest, and the search is being run through the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force, which can be reached at 1-866-4WANTED or through its website. Tipsters who come forward can remain anonymous, a standard safeguard under U.S. Marshals Service task force procedures that guarantees anonymity to anyone who calls in or submits a tip online.
The station's report does not detail the date, location, or specific circumstances of the alleged burglary — including whether a weapon was involved or whether anyone inside the structure was threatened or injured. Public advisories from the Marshals in this case have focused on physical identification and the reward terms rather than the underlying facts of the incident, leaving those details unresolved for now.
Why the Charge Carries Federal Weight
Aggravated burglary is treated as one of the most serious property-related offenses on the books in Ohio. Under Ohio Revised Code 2911.11, the charge applies when someone unlawfully enters an occupied structure intending to commit a crime while armed with a deadly weapon or threatening physical harm, according to Jay Perez Law. It is classified as a first-degree felony, which under the state's indefinite sentencing framework carries a prison term of 3 to 11 years and fines of up to $20,000 — a severity that helps explain why federal marshals have joined the local search rather than leaving it to Youngstown Police alone.
Dothard's name has surfaced in Mahoning and Trumbull county law enforcement records before. In August 2025, Boardman Police arrested a 31-year-old Jessica S. Dothard during a traffic stop on Boardman-Canfield Road on a charge of operating a vehicle impaired, also citing her for a marked lanes violation, according to The Vindicator. Boardman sits just outside Youngstown in Mahoning County.
A Longer Paper Trail Across Two Counties
Further back, a Trumbull County grand jury indicted a then-28-year-old Jessica Dothard of Youngstown in February 2023 on a felony charge of possession of a fentanyl-related compound, part of a batch of 36 indictments returned that month, as reported by the Tribune Chronicle. And in March 2016, police arrested a 22-year-old Jessica S. Dothard on an outstanding warrant out of Niles Municipal Court during a traffic stop, per Vindicator archives — Niles being another Trumbull County community neighboring Youngstown.
The task force now pursuing Dothard traces its roots to the June 2003 line-of-duty death of Cleveland Police Patrolman Wayne Leon, who was killed by a fugitive, an event that led the U.S. Marshals Service to stand up the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force, according to the Richland Source. The task force now spans more than 100 federal, state and local agencies organized into eight regional divisions, including ones covering Youngstown, Akron and Cleveland. By April 2025, it had logged more than 60,000 fugitive arrests since its founding.
How the Reward and Tip Line Work
Local police departments across Northeast Ohio routinely deputize their own officers as Special Deputy U.S. Marshals, granting them the authority to chase fugitives across county lines rather than being boxed in by municipal boundaries, per the City of Brunswick. That cross-jurisdictional setup is part of why a Youngstown warrant can lead marshals into searches spanning Akron and Cleveland as well.
Payouts on cases like Dothard's are contingent on a tip directly leading to an arrest, consistent with how the task force has structured its reward system in other recent Northeast Ohio manhunts, including one fugitive spotted in Youngstown earlier this year. Anyone with information about Dothard's whereabouts is asked to contact the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force at 1-866-4WANTED or submit a tip online, with anonymity guaranteed.
-4.webp?w=160&h=400&fit=crop&crop=edges)