By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
Duane Crisp’s address will change, as will the rest of his life, after his guilty pleas Thursday to sex crimes involving a victim under the age of 13.
The 58-year-old Crisp pleaded guilty in Common Pleas Court to charges of Felony 3 gross sexual imposition and Felony 2 illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material or performance. Judge Russell Wiseman accepted the plea arrangement the Galion man made with the county prosecutor’s office and sentenced him to consecutive sentences of 48 months and six years.
Crisp may apply for judicial release after serving five years but must register as a Tier II sex offender for 25 years following his release from prison. Upon his release Crisp must also complete an in-patient sex offenders’ treatment program.
Nickolas Arrendondo chose to go directly to prison and by-pass the Grand Jury with a guilty plea stemming from his arrest last month in a drug bust at his home. Arrendondo pleaded guilty to a bill of information to Felony 3 charges of illegal assembly of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs.
Officials from two counties and the state executed a search warrant at Arrendondo’s home near Plymouth. Both he and Miranda Burton were arrested at that time.
In a plea arrangement with prosecutors, Arrendondo was sentenced to 36 months in prison, with the stipulation he can apply for judicial release after serving nine months. Arrendondo was also fined $5,000 and must complete an alcohol and drug assessment as well as any recommended follow-up treatment.
In unrelated cases two people were placed in the county’s Drug Court program for Medically Assisted Treatment.
Thirty-eight-year-old Nicole Britt of Galion had been ordered into the CROSSWAEH program. But that facility deemed she was ineligible. Probation Officer Mark Alspach told the court he believed Britt would qualify for the MAT program.
Britt was charged with violating her community control. She was placed on that program following a 2012 conviction for drug possession. Britt will enter the MAT program when she is released from a county jail sentence imposed in Municipal Court for a hit-skip accident.
Jason Utz also requested the MAT program. Utz was charged with violating community control. He was on that program following his convictions in 2011 and 2012. Utz had tested positive for four illegal substances. He will continue to be held in the county jail until he can be screened for the program.
Twenty-year-old Randall Allen of Bucyrus pleaded guilty to Felony 4 aggravated assault. That charge was amended from Felony 2 felonious assault. Allen was placed on community control for three years and must complete a drug and alcohol assessment and any recommended follow-up treatment as a condition of his community control.
Allen could be sentenced to 18 months in prison should he not successfully complete community control. Allen was also ordered to pay restitution to his victim who was cut with a knife during a fight.
Christopher Lewis, Jesse Melba, Timothy Heefner II, and Zachary Marshall were all in court for initial community control violation hearings. Lewis was assigned attorney Rolf Whitney and had bond set at $50,000. Melba’s bond was also set at $50,000 and was assigned attorney Tom Nicholson. Heefner’s bond was set at $75,000 and he was assigned Brian Gernert as his attorney. Marshall was also assigned Gernert and his bond was $75,000.