By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
Former Crestline police officer Mark Callicoat drew the ire of Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold on Monday morning, as well as an extra year of probation.
Callicoat, who lost his job with the Crestline Police Department as a result of pleading guilty to charges filed by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, admitted to violating his probation. Callicoat pleaded guilty to first-degree misdemeanor falsification last February. Additional charges of third-degree felony bribery and second-degree misdemeanor dereliction of duty were dismissed at that time.
The charges stemmed from an allegation that Callicoat had tried to solicit sexual favors from a female motorist in exchange for not writing a traffic citation. Callicoat was sentenced last February to 90 days in the county jail and one year of community control. The jail time was suspended.
County Probation Officer Eric Bohach alleged that Callicoat had violated his probation by not reporting being in contact with the Delaware Police Department and consuming alcohol. Although Callicoat originally admitted to alcohol consumption, he at first denied contact with the Delaware Police Department because he did not “want to incriminate” himself.
Callicoat, who was not represented by legal counsel at Monday’s hearing, eventually admitted to having contact with Delaware police. Bohach said the Delaware Police Department had been in communication with him regarding an investigation that was ongoing. Bohach also told the court there had been a picture posted on Facebook of Callicoat consuming alcohol that has since been removed.
While the judge was clearly not pleased with the information, his patience was completely gone by the time Callicoat told him he had a good job, always came to court when requested, had not been charged in Delaware and mentioned paying a fine.
Leuthold exploded from the bench. “Are you trying to negotiate with me? You don’t negotiate with me. You do what the hell I tell you. You violate my probation – you flaunt it. Then you try to negotiate by saying you’ll pay a fine.”
Callicoat was only a month away from completing his probation. The judge extended his probation by another year and made a promise to Callicoat. “If I find out you screw up, I’m going to put you in jail for 90 days.”
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The first case on new charges in 2017 was a guilty plea to a Bill of Information. Rick Blevins pleaded guilty to felony 5 domestic violence. Blevins has two previous domestic violence convictions making the latest charge a felony.
Blevins was placed on community control for five years for the incident which occurred on Dec. 28, fined $1,000 and ordered to complete anger management counseling approved by the probation department.
Blevins, who waived a pre-sentence investigation, also requested a waiver of the no contact order with the victim. The victim appeared in court to support that request.
The judge was on the verge of grudgingly granting the request until he discovered that the latest incident occurred while Blevins was already in counseling. Instead, the judge allowed the couple to only have contact with one another for counseling and in public areas.
“Mr. Blevins, you’ve seen the nice judge here today. You don’t want to see the not-nice judge,” Leuthold told Blevins. “You put your hands on this woman again, I swear I’ll put you in prison.”
The judge asked the probation department to schedule a review of the case in 30 days.