By Krystal Smalley and Gary Ogle
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com; gogle@wbcowqel.com
Dustin Davis will be leaving the unseasonably chilly days of Ohio for the slightly warmer clime of Alabama. The 27-year-old man, who has been charged with felony 2 rape, will be extradited on the request of authorities in Tuscaloosa.
Forty-six-year-old Charlotte Baldridge, of Crestline, was given a sentence that Judge Sean Leuthold does not like to hand out too often: intervention in lieu of conviction. Baldridge entered a guilty plea to fifth-degree felony drug possession, which will be held until she successfully completes the one-year program.
“I don’t do this very often,” Leuthold said, who has made his displeasure of the program known, warned her. He pointed out that since he had taken the bench he has placed only five people on intervention, four of which finished the program successfully. Leuthold sentenced the fifth person to prison for violating the terms of the program.
He believed Baldridge was a good candidate for the program due to the fact that she had been involved with the Maryhaven programs and continuously tested negative on her drug tests.
Twenty-seven-year-old Andy Steward received community control for his drug possession charge, but he will be spending 75 days in the county jail beginning Wednesday.
“Don’t mistake my tolerance in this case for weakness,” Leuthold warned Steward as he selected to forgo the typical pre-sentence investigation upon Steward’s request. Steward wished to serve his sentence immediately in order to be available for the birth of his child.
In additional to community control and a short jail sentence, Steward must also complete a drug and alcohol treatment program upon his release from jail. He was fined $1,250, ordered to forfeit $297 to the New Washington Police Department, and had his driver’s license suspended for six months.
Eighteen-year-old Jeremy Alspach pleaded guilty to drug possession, a fifth-degree felony. Leuthold ordered a pre-sentence investigation and released Alspach on a personal recognizance bond. Alspach’s recommended sentence included five years on community control, a six-month driver’s license suspension, a $1,250 fine, and entrance into a drug and alcohol treatment program.
Thirty-two-year-old Jayme Fawley admitted she had violated probation as a result of an OVI arrest and taking medication that was not prescribed to her.
The judge, in noting her substance abuse did not include heroin and the underlying cause of her behavior was likely due to other issues, extended her probation to five years, ordered her to spend 45 days in the county jail and then to go back into the court’s ISAT program for two years.
“This is it. There are no more chances,” Leuthold said.