By Gary Ogle and Krystal Smalley
gogle@wbcowqel.com
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Seven people were arraigned on felony charges on Monday morning in Crawford County Common Pleas Court in front of Judge Sean Leuthold. Among those arraigned were Levi Rowe.
Rowe, age 25, is from Bucyrus and is charged with three counts of felony 3 drug trafficking. In each count the allegations specify Oxycodone. If convicted on all counts and given maximum, consecutive sentences, Rowe could face up to nine years in prison and $30,000 in fines.
The judge agreed to set bond in the amount of $250,000 and appointed Bucyrus attorney Adam Stone to represent Rowe.
Thirty-two-year-old Joseph Lewis of Bucyrus was arraigned on one count of felony 5 drug possession and one count of criminal trespass, which is a fourth-degree misdemeanor.
Brian Gernert was appointed to represent Lewis whose bond was set at $175,000.
Others arraigned on Monday were Jesse Vance, F5 theft ($150,000); Eric Rendlen, two counts of F5 drug possession ($150,000); Kyle Wayne May, F5 vandalism ($50,000); Jason Wayne Dean, F3 drug trafficking ($200,000); Morgan Swavel, five counts of F5 theft (personal recognizance).
In other court news, 35-year-old Shawn Stratton, of Mansfield, pleaded guilty to felony 5 drug possession. He was sentenced to eight months in prison, fined $1,250, and ordered to forfeit drug-related property to the Crestline Police Department.
“I urge you to straighten up,” Leuthold told Stratton. “But if not, you know how it works here.”
Though Kyle May appeared via videoconference earlier in the morning on a new felony charge, he was transported to Common Pleas Court a bit later for a probation violation hearing. May allegedly damaged a kiosk while in the county jail, which resulted in the vandalism charge and the violation.
“Proof in this case is not weak – it’s nonexistent,” argued defense attorney Thomas Nicholson, who also claimed that others who committed a similar act had not been charged.
May had been on felony probation through Crawford County on a 2016 domestic violence charge, but he was indicted on theft and breaking and entering in Logan County. He was in custody when he allegedly committed the new felony.
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Shawna Kirgis chose a trial and possible eight-year prison sentence over five years on community control.
The 42-year-old Bucyrus women was all set to plead guilty to an amended charge of felony 4 aggravated assault, but Leuthold paused in his recitation when Kirgis began shaking her head and crying.
After a short recess, Kirgis refused the plea deal and informed Leuthold that she was willing to go to trial for second-degree assault and having a weapon while intoxicated, a misdemeanor charge.
Jason Westerfield appeared in Crawford County Municipal Court for an initial appearance for felonious assault, a second-degree felony.
Westerfield allegedly assaulted a person, including punching him in the face, slashing him with a knife, and kicking and stomping the alleged victim’s leg. When Crestline police officers responded to a 911 call, they discovered the victim on the floor, covered with blood, and having an apparent broken leg.
“His information is incorrect,” Westerfield told Judge Shane Leuthold. “When we get in court the facts will come out.”
Westerfield stated he turned himself in the day after the alleged incident occurred.
Shane Leuthold set bond at $250,000. The second-degree felony carries a maximum penalty of eight years in prison.
Westerfield served part of a 100-month prison sentence in 2009 on a federal charge of possessing a firearm. He was on federal probation at the time of the alleged incident. Westerfield has also been convicted on state charges of breaking and entering, drug possession, abduction, and drug trafficking.