By Krystal Smalley and Gary Ogle
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com; gogle@wbcowqel.com
If Tuesday’s Common Pleas Court docket was any indication, drug-related cases continue to be the bulk of work for the local justice system. Two people were sentenced and another pleaded guilty and in each case the charge was drug possession.
Fifty-year-old Jerry Cameron got the sentence he was expecting, but not before he also got a stern warning from Judge Sean Leuthold.
Cameron was arraigned on fifth-degree drug possession in May and quickly pleaded guilty. Following a pre-sentence investigation with Cameron still in the county jail throughout that process, the recommended sentence was delivered Tuesday morning. Cameron was sentenced to five years of community control, fined the mandatory $1,250 drug fine and had his driver’s license suspended for six months. Cameron must also surrender any drugs or drug-related items that were seized by police and complete an approved drug and alcohol treatment program.
“Frankly, I’m not sure you are the best candidate for community control, but I have no choice under current Ohio law, the judge told Cameron. “I’m not going to play games with you. I’m not going to hold your hand.”
Adam Smith officially learned his fate Tuesday afternoon. Smith appeared in Crawford County Common Pleas Court for a sentencing hearing. The 30-year-old Bucyrus man had pleaded guilty to drug possession on May 27 but a pre-sentence investigation held up the final sentencing.
Judge Sean Leuthold ordered Smith to serve five years on community control and enter into a drug and alcohol treatment program. Smith also received a $1,250 mandatory drug fine, a six-month license suspension, and he must forfeit any drug-related property to the Bucyrus Police Department.
Leuthold warned Smith that he may have avoided a prison sentence as a first time offender but any violations while on community control would make Smith prison eligible. If Smith fails on community control, he has a 12-month prison sentence hanging over his head.
Paulette Cameron pleaded guilty to drug possession, a fifth-degree felony. Leuthold ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be completed and continued her bond. The prosecution recommended five years on community control, a treatment program, a six-month driver’s license suspension, and a $1,250 mandatory drug fine.
The guilty plea and an admission to violating her probation on a 2014 case will be consolidated. Leuthold ordered a pre-sentence investigation.
Fifty-seven-year-old Michael Rayborn of Bucyrus appeared in Common Pleas Court for allegedly violating the terms of his community control. Rayborn’s parole officer stated that while on probation for a domestic violence charge from 2011, Rayborn had been convicted of the same crime on Feb. 26 in Crawford County Municipal Court. On June 9, Rayborn’s parole officer alleged, he had caused physical harm to a household member and have been found noticeably intoxicated by the Bucyrus Police Department.
Assistant prosecutor Ryan Hoovler stated that Rayborn was unable to follow court orders.
Leuthold ordered Rayborn to have no contact with the victim in both the underlying felony and the violations. He set bond at $100,000 and ordered a full hearing to be scheduled in two weeks.