By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold heard cases involving a wide variety of criminal charges Thursday. What was consistent for four of the defendants, however, was that prison was the outcome.
Thirty-six-year-old Gilbert Smith changed his plea to guilty Thursday to a felony charge of second-degree felonious assault. In an agreement with the Crawford County Prosecutor’s Office, Smith was sentenced to four years in prison, fined $2,500 and ordered to pay restitution to the victim in an amount yet to be determined.
The maximum possible prison sentence was eight years.
“I care about you, man,” the victim told Smith in open court. “I want you to get better.”
Smith responded in a quiet tone, “I take full responsibility for my actions and I’m sorry.”
The judge said he appreciated the victim and his girlfriend “having a good heart,” and encouraged Smith to get help and put his life back together upon his release. Smith will also be subject to a post-release control period of three years.
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Twenty-two-year-old Michael Music was sentenced to 48 months in prison as a result of consecutive sentencing. Music pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree felony theft and one count of fourth-degree felony theft.
Judge Leuthold followed the recommended sentence and ordered that the 36-month sentence on the felony 3 charge and the 12-month sentence on the felony 4 charge be served consecutively.
Music was also fined $2,500 and ordered to pay $26,400 in restitution to the victim.
Noting that the age of the victim is 94, Leuthold told Music, “Bottom line is this was taking advantage of the elderly. You steal from those folks who are vulnerable, you’re going to get punished.”
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Zachariah Zacharzuk, age 22, was sentenced to a total of 16 months in prison. Zacharzuk pleaded guilty to fifth-degree felony drug possession and was sentenced to eight months as a repeat offender.
Zacharzuk also admitted to violating his community control for a 2015 case, also for drug possession, and was sentenced to another eight-month prison term to be served consecutively with the sentence on the new conviction.
Zacharzuk was also fined $1,250 and had his driver’s license suspended for six months.
“If you’re going to engage in this lifestyle in this county, prison is going to be a part of your life,” Leuthold said.
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Joseph Lewis was sentenced to prison as a result of violating community control. Lewis was on community control for a felony 5 theft conviction in a 2015 case.
Lewis’s prison sentence is for eight months.
Three other people were sentenced to five years on community control Thursday and a fourth had the same sentence recommended pending a pre-sentence investigation.
Jeremy Woods was put on community control for felony DUI. Woods was also given a lifetime driver’s license suspension and must serve 90 days in the county jail.
William Smith, Jr. was sentenced to community control for felony 5 drug trafficking; and Tony Chatman was placed on community control for criminal non-support.
Chad Carlisle pleaded guilty to felony 5 drug possession, with the recommended sentence being community control. Carlisle will continue to be held on bond until a pre-sentence investigation is completed. He will also be placed on the court’s ISAT program as part of his probation.