By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
This seems to be the week for longer prison terms as three more people were sentenced to prison on Thursday to go with the five sentenced Tuesday.
Twenty-eight-year-old James Bonner of Bucyrus pleaded guilty to felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and received a seven-year prison sentence in Crawford County Common Pleas Court. Bonner admitted to firing shots in Heritage Court in Bucyrus. The maximum sentence permitted in Bonner’s case is eight years. A second identical charge against Bonner was dropped in exchange for his plea.
Cindy Mabe of Crestline was sentenced to 24 months in prison for violating the terms of her community control and 26-year-old Jesse Melba of Galion received 11 months in prison for trafficking in drugs.
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The sentencing hearings may not have been any easier Thursday afternoon but those defendants were able to avoid prison time.
Twenty-three-year-old Mike Stanley of Springfield skated by with one year on community control and a $500 fine. If he fails on community control, Stanley could receive 12 months in prison for the fifth-degree felony theft charge.
“We are allowing Mr. Stanley to change his life,” remarked assistant prosecutor Ryan Hoovler. “Ripping off old people is not the way to go.
“This is an extreme problem we’re having in our county right now,” Hoovler added. “If he gets involved in this again, he’s only going to prison.”
Stanley is related by marriage to Jack Lovell, Jr., the man who was sentenced to 12 months in prison last week after a jury found him guilty of theft from the elderly. Maison Lovell was arraigned earlier this week on a $260,000 bond for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from an elderly person in a similar scam.
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Stanley’s attorney, Pat Murphy, said his client was influenced by family members.
“Let me tell you right now, I don’t tolerate this kind of crap in my county,” Judge Sean Leuthold said, noting that Stanley charged the person $10,000 to seal a driveway. “Ripping off elderly people is repugnant behavior . . . I’m telling you all this – that it’s time to stop engaging in this nonsense.”
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Leuthold also took 21-year-old Sean Hazelton of Mansfield to task for his recent behavior, comments that were echoed by Hazelton’s attorney, Roeliff Harper, prior to his sentencing.
“I made some bad decisions to get in here,” Hazelton admitted. “I don’t like jail.”
“If you don’t like jail, you’re really not going to like prison,” Leuthold warned Hazelton.
Before Leuthold sentenced Hazelton, he chanced talking to the young man about his tattoos and the decisions he made. The judge made pointed statements on Hazelton’s tattoos that read “Pride” and “Pain,” along with another that said “Reality is false.”
“Let me explain to you, man. I am reality,” Leuthold said. “This is reality. You’re going to stop using drugs, stop doing crime . . . you’re not a gangster. You’re a kid that’s going to get himself in prison.”
Leuthold sentenced Hazelton to five years on community control for having weapons under disability, a third-degree felony. The crime involved buying a gun from Craigslist and attempting to sell it. Hazelton was also placed on the court’s Intensive Supervision and Treatment program, fined $750, and ordered to forfeit the .44 Magnum to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office.
If Hazelton fails on community control, he could be sentenced to prison for 36 months.
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Fifty-year-old Lisa Jenkins was not eligible for prison but Leuthold warned her he would have if he could due to her record. Instead, the Galion woman was placed on community control for five years, received a six-month driver’s license suspension, fined $1,250, and ordered to forfeit drug-related property to the Galion Police Department.
If Jenkins fails on community control, she could receive 12 months in prison for drug possession and another 12 months for permitting drug abuse.
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