By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
A Galion man was back in Crawford County Common Pleas Court Thursday, not only to answer charges that he violated his probation, but that he also committed a new felony.
Twenty-nine-year-old Nathan Tolle admitted to both and was sentenced by Judge Sean Leuthold to a total of 18 months in prison in accordance with a plea agreement reached with the Crawford County Prosecutor’s Office.
Tolle was on community control as a result of a 2015 conviction for felony 5 receiving stolen property. The violations he admitted to were failing to report a lawful arrest, testing positive for marijuana and burglary. For that Tolle was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
The new charge of burglary was a felony 4, to which he pleaded guilty. Tolle’s sentence on the new charge was six months in prison that was ordered to be served consecutive to the 12-month sentence for a total of 18 months.
“You’ve got to get your head on straight,” the judge told Tolle while sentencing him.
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Cornell Huffline had made a motion while in prison on an unrelated case to have charges dismissed in Crawford Common Pleas Court. Huffline was charged with felony 1 aggravated burglary and felony 2 kidnapping in connection with the Crestline case involving Crestline resident Kenan Neal.
In a hearing pertaining to that motion on Thursday, Huffline went against the advice of his attorney, Joel Spitzer, and agreed to plead guilty to an amended count of felony 4 burglary. Huffline’s sentence is nine months in prison and he dropped the motion to dismiss.
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Twenty-six-year-old Zachary McIntyre received one of the few opportunities for diversion from Judge Sean Leuthold. McIntyre pleaded guilty to a felony 5 charge of filing a false voter registration.
In granting McIntyre diversion and holding his guilty plea with the possibility of dismissing the charges altogether, the judge noted the crime, although a felony, was not violent, nor did it involve drugs.
McIntyre must pay all fees and costs associated with the program. The initial period of diversion is two years.
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Kylie Smith was back in court charged with violating her community control, a development which clearly frustrated the judge.
“I am so furious right now I can hardly contain myself,” Leuthold said while glaring down at Smith seated at the defendant’s table.
Smith, who had graduated from the judge’s ISAT program as well as Teen Challenge, admitted to threatening a family member with violence and consuming alcohol.
“It’s a small step from drunk to high and you know it,” the judge said to Smith. “What you have to grasp is you have a child, you have responsibilities.”
The judge continued Smith’s probation on the condition she return to the court’s ISAT program and continue with her current counseling program at Maryhaven indefinitely.
“If I send you to prison, you are going to be there for a while,” Leuthold told Smith. “I’d rather see you in prison and alive than on probation and dead. One more slip and you are going (to prison).”
Smith is on probation as a result of two 2011 convictions for felony 3 illegal cultivation of marijuana and felony 5 possession of drugs.
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Thirty-four-year-old Shawna Holman of Bucyrus pleaded guilty to felony drug trafficking. The recommended sentence is five years on community control.
Holman was released on a personal recognizance bond pending a pre-sentence investigation prior to formal sentencing.