BUCYRUS—Diane Ross, 51, of Galion, was arraigned on charges of violating her community control.
According to allegations, Ross was taken into custody after she was caught on surveillance cameras with her grandchild, who was under five years old.
Ross was initially convicted in December 2021 of child endangerment, a third-degree felony punishable it up to 36 months in prison. The charges resulted from an incident in which her four-year-old grandson was able to retrieve a loaded firearm from a shelf. The child accidentally shot himself, resulting in his death.
While Judge Leuthold said this child’s death was one of his most disturbing cases, he made it clear to the court that he believed the shooting was an accident. Because of that, he sentenced Ross to jail time and three years of community control. The basic conditions of community control dictated that she was not to be in the presence of children.
Ross was initially allowed out of jail after the fatal incident occurred because Leuthold gave her a personal recognizance bond. In September 2021, Ross violated her community control when she was discovered in the house with the children when an alleged domestic violence incident occurred.
Following that incident, Ross was placed on house arrest with GPS monitoring until the case concluded.
At today’s court appearance, Judge Leuthold entered a not-guilty plea on Ross’ behalf and her bond at $50,000. He appointed attorney Jerry Thompson to represent her.
Crawford County Now will continue to cover this developing news story.