BUCYRUS — John Friend Jr. of Bucyrus appeared in Crawford County Common Pleas Court on Friday to accept a plea deal that spared him the possibility of spending 31 years in prison.
Friend, 38, was originally charged with two counts of possession of drugs, each a first-degree felony punishable with up to 11 years in prison on each count, two counts of possession of drugs, each a third-degree felony punishable with up to 36 months on each count, two counts of possession of drugs, each a fifth-degree felony and each punishable with up to 12 months in prison and one count of possession of a dangerous drug, a fifth-degree punishable with up to 12 months in prison.
After months of negotiations between the state, Friend and his attorney, Joel Spitzer, a sentencing agreement was put in place and approved by Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold.
In the agreement, counts one and two of the charges were amended from first-degree felonies to third-degree felonies. All other charges remained the same. The maximum sentence was imposed on each count.
Before pronouncing sentence on Friend, Leuthold asked if he had anything he wanted to say. Friend told the court he was sorry and said he has been in every prison in Ohio. He told the court that he kept taking the wrong path in life but was determined to get help and not return to the same friends and associates he had in the past.
Leuthold sentenced Friend to 15 years in prison. Friend will be eligible for judicial release after seven-and-a-half years and will receive credit for jail time served.
“I hope you mean that, Mr. Friend. I plan to be up here for a very long time. I’m not going anywhere,” Leuthold said. “As long as I’m sitting up here, this behavior is not going to be tolerated. I wish you the best. There are good programs in prison, take advantage of them. But if you come back here slinging dope you’re going back to prison for a very long time.”