By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Involvement in drugs landed Joseph Vanderkooi a two-year stint in prison.
The 24-year-old Galion man pleaded guilty to trafficking in drugs, a fourth-degree felony, in Crawford County Common Pleas Court Wednesday morning. He was sentenced to six months in prison, was fined $5,000, and was ordered to forfeit $240 to the Galion Police Department. His driver’s license was also suspended for six months.
Vanderkooi’s six-month prison sentence on the new felony will be extended by 18 months after he admitted to violating his community control on two other cases. He admitted to participating in an illegal drug activity and subsequently being arrested for trafficking, possessing marijuana, testing positive for marijuana on a random drug screen, and failing to report to scheduled monthly office visits. The violations all occurred on April 7 or 11.
As a result of his admittance, Vanderkooi was sentenced to nine months in prison on a 2012 protection order violation case and nine months on a 2011 drug possession case. The three sentences will be served consecutively for a total of 24 months in prison.
“I’m sorry for what I did. It shouldn’t have been done,” Vanderkooi said. “I messed up.”
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On the day that Daniel Fowler turned 23, he also pleaded guilty to drug possession. The Bucyrus man will spend the next few weeks in the county jail as he awaits the result of his pre-sentence investigation. His recommended sentence included five years on community control, a drug and alcohol treatment program, a six-month driver’s license suspension, and a $1,250 fine.
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Rose Douglas was sentenced to one year on community control and was ordered to complete a drug and alcohol assessment. She pleaded guilty to permitting drug abuse, a fifth-degree felony, on April 19.
The 54-year-old Bucyrus woman was arrested alongside her husband, Leslie Douglas, in Mansfield as a result of a warrant issued in Crawford County after their King Road home was the subject of a drug bust. Jamie Hall and Stephanie Lockhart, subletting the home from the Douglas’, were arrested on probation violations during the February bust. Leslie Douglas received a 54-month prison sentence in April for drug possession and drug trafficking.
“The court does understand she was under pressure from her spouse,” acknowledged Judge Sean Leuthold. He believed that Rose Douglas would be very successful on community control.
Assistant prosecutor Ryan Hoovler agreed. “I think without Leslie Douglas, she will be fine.”
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Leuthold set bond at $100,000 for two men who allegedly violated the terms of their community control.
Twenty-seven-year-old Jamie Cline went before the judge on allegations that he tested positive for marijuana and opiates on April 28. Leuthold, noting that Cline was the first person he ever granted judicial release for as Common Pleas Court Judge, appointed Adam Stone as Cline’s attorney.
Cline pleaded guilty to felony 3 drug possession in 2014 and was sentenced to prison for 36 months.
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Thirty-five-year-old Golden Wilson, of Galion, allegedly failed to report to his supervising officer on two occasions and had a blood alcohol level of .014 when tested in Municipal Court. Wilson was placed on intervention in 2013 on a drug possession case.
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Frederick Staats, of Crestline, attempted to have his $50,000 bond reduced. Staats, 45, was arraigned on charges of assault on a police officer (felony 4), domestic threats (misdemeanor 1), and resisting arrest (misdemeanor 2) in Common Pleas Court on April 11.
Defense attorney Thomas Nicholson argued in favor of the bond reduction, stating that the incident was simply a disagreement between Staats and Crestline police.
“He certainly denies the worst of what they’re (the prosecution) saying,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson stated that the Crestline Police Department was called to Staats’ residence after receiving a phone call from someone living outside of the village. According to the defense attorney, police attempted to come in to Staats’ home and his client did not want them to, which resulted in a struggle. The domestic violence charge, Nicholson added, was due to alcohol, not drugs.
Assistant prosecutor Hoovler countered Nicholson’s argument, stating Crestline police responded to a domestic violence call and heard an altercation in the home when they arrived. It was then, Hoovler alleged, that Staats was found in an intoxicated state, resisted arrest, and kneed an officer in the groin. He added that the victim in the case was being threatened.
Hoovler also noted that Staats had been convicted of domestic violence in 2011 and served eight months in 2008 for breaking and entering.
“Fifty-thousand dollars is a low bond in this case,” said Leuthold. “It’s one of the lower bonds I set.”
Leuthold denied the bond reduction request.