By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The warning was made loud and clear: drug and crime problems from other counties will not be allowed to spill over into Crawford County.
Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold made the decree as he sentenced 31-year-old Matthew Alley, of Waverly, Ohio, to six years in prison Thursday afternoon. The Pike County man pleaded guilty to the illegal manufacture of drugs, a first-degree felony, and tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.
After Alley entered his guilty plea, Leuthold asked him why he made his way up to Crawford County. Alley indicated that he reconnected with someone he had not seen in a decade.
The judge noted the murders that took place in Alley’s home county last April and the drug problem that area was facing.
“We don’t tolerate that kind of stuff here,” Leuthold warned Alley. “You’re going to cook meth, you’re going to prison.”
He added that he refused to deal with Pike County’s problems.
“This is not the community to come to,” Leuthold said.
Though Alley received a six-year prison sentence on the two felonies, it was far below the 14 years if the maximum sentences had been run consecutively. The prosecution also took into consideration that Alley was not running a huge meth operation when he was busted.
Alley’s agreed-to sentence also included a six-month driver’s license suspension, a $10,000 fine, and a mandatory five years on post-release control.
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Thirty-year-old Sheena Love, of Mt. Gilead, appeared in court for an initial probation violation hearing. Love allegedly tested positive on a urinalysis for opiates and created false records to make it appear that she had a prescription.
Leuthold set bond at $100,000 and appointed Tani Eyer as Love’s attorney.
Love originally pleaded guilty to theft in September and was placed on community control.
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Eddie Awbrey turned down a plea deal and will now be heading to trial. The 47-year-old Bucyrus man is facing a second-degree felony of drug possession and a fifth-degree felony of permitting drug abuse. His jury trial is set to begin Oct. 26.