Report provides new info on Bellville felony arrest
By David Jacobs
New details are emerging in a stabbing case that led to a felony arrest resulting from a Bellville police investigation.
The suspect is listed as Roger L. Oswalt, age 39, of East Durbin Ave. in Bellville, Mansfield Municipal Court records show.
Richland County Jail records show that he faces charges of assault, felonious assault and strangulation.
This is confirmed in court records that list two separate cases -- one a felony and the other a misdemeanor.
Oswalt's arrest was announced April 26 by Bellville police.
"On April 25, 2025, a warrant was issued in relation to an incident that took place on April 15, 2025," Bellville Police Chief Jon Fletcher said via official news release.
Circumstances of the arrest are not known other than that Oswalt was "taken into custody without incident," police said.
On April 28, through a public records request to Bellville PD, an official police call record report provided additional details:
-- At 8:17 a.m. April 15, an officer was dispatched to a stabbing at East Durbin Avenue
-- While present, the officer learned of a second victim at 61 Mill Road, listed as the Mickey Mart gas station in downtown Bellville.
"It was discovered the two incidents were related," the report shows.
A second officer responded to that additional location.
Both injured individuals, whose names were not released, were taken to OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital.
The report lists the type of call as cutting/stabbing, and that Bellville police were on-scene about 5.5 hours. The type of weapon is listed as a knife/cutting instrument. The location of the incident is listed as a multiple dwelling.
Information on other circumstances is not known, including if the suspect knew the victims.
Attempts to reach Police Chief Fletcher for additional information were not immediately successful.
A public defender is assigned to provide Oswalt legal counsel, court records show.
Oswalt remained in the Richland County Jail on Tuesday.
Bond is listed as $75,000 in the felony case and $10,000 in the misdemeanor case. May 1 preliminary hearings were set. Judge Michael Kemerer is assigned to the cases.
Violent crime is rare in Bellville, a Richland County village with a population of 1,993.
Bellville recorded no violent crimes in 2024, according to the Ohio Incident-Based Reporting System, a state-managed platform that standardizes reporting across law enforcement agencies.
One violent crime was listed in both 2023 and 2022, none for 2021, and four for 2020, records for Bellville show.