By Gary Ogle and Krystal Smalley
gogle@wbcowqel.com; ksmalley@wbcowqel.com

A Crestline woman didn’t have to go to prison after pleading guilty to charges of drug possession and drug trafficking. She went because that was her choice.

Twenty-six-year-old Chelsea Prosser told Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold that she was not amenable to community control. So even though Prosser was technically not prison eligible because those were her first felony convictions, she was sentenced to two nine-month prison sentences on the fifth-degree felonies to be served concurrently.

Prosser was arrested June 18 along with Brooke Weichum, Angela Carroll and Charles Tyler in a drug bust in Crestline.

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“I want to apologize for my actions,” Prosser said. “I’m going down a better path.”

The judge commended Prosser for her maturity.

“People say going to prison doesn’t do anyone any good. Going to prison can do a lot of things,” Leuthold said. “I’m hoping the decision you made in this case to go to prison is a mature one.”

Prosser’s driver’s license was suspended for six months and she was fined $1,250 – both mandatory under state sentencing guidelines, She must also forfeit any drugs or drug-related items to authorities.

Theoretically Prosser could still end up do some time in a probationary program as she is subject, upon her release from prison, to as long as three years of optional post-release control. That is up to the discretion of the Ohio Parole Board.

Twenty-nine-year-old Lindsey Atwood made it just a month on community control before returning to Crawford County Common Pleas Court and that didn’t make Judge Leuthold very happy.

“We tried to help you,” Leuthold told Atwood. “We move heaven and earth to help everybody . . . we stuck out our hand and you didn’t want it.”

Leuthold sentenced Atwood to seven months in prison for violating her community control when she failed to maintain her address, failed to report to office visits, and failed to comply with the court’s Intensive Supervision and Treatment program and the Maryhaven substance abuse program.

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Forty-one-year-old John Hager pleaded guilty on two counts of drug possession. Rather than being placed on community control, Hager requested he be sent to jail as he was not amenable to the probation program.

“I don’t believe a lengthy prison sentence is necessary but, Mr. Hager, you need to straighten up,” Judge Leuthold said.

Hager was sentenced to six months in prison on each drug count. The sentences will be served concurrently with credit for time served in the county jail. Hager must pay a $1,250 fine and forfeit drug-related property currently being held by the Bucyrus Police Department. His driver’s license was also suspended for six months.

Nineteen-year-old Mikel Knetter of Crestline will remain in the county jail on a $150,000 bond after allegations arose that he violated his community control. Knetter had been on probation for a 2014 burglary when he allegedly took property from someone in Crestline in July.

Knetter denied the allegation and Judge Leuthold set bond at $150,000, citing the previous burglary and the current theft allegation the reason for a high bond.

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Twenty-five-year-old Joshua Smith of Mansfield pleaded guilty to the charge of felony five drug possession. The recommended sentence from the prosecutor’s office is five years on community control, completion of a drug and alcohol treatment program, six-month driver’s license suspension and a $1,250 fine.

The judge ordered Smith to be continued to be held in the county jail on bond until a pre-sentence investigation is done prior to formal sentencing.