By Gary Ogle and Krystal Smalley
gogle@wbcowqel.com; ksmalley@wbcowqel.com

Judge Sean Leuthold made it clear to a defendant on Wednesday that the local justice system’s tolerance with him had reached its limit.

“Mr. Pollock, your life has been nothing but a series of stupid, irresponsible actions. Somehow you have been able to skate without any real consequences,” the judge told 36-year-old Coden Pollock of Bucyrus. “Those days are over. Reality is here. I am reality.”

The reality for Pollock following his guilty pleas to felony 5 vandalism and felony 3 burglary are consecutive, maximum prison sentences. Pollock was sentenced to 12 months in prison for the vandalism charge involving a broken window at a Bucyrus attorney’s office, and 36 months in prison for the burglary charge stemming from an incident in which he wandered into the wrong home while drunk and scared the elderly resident.

Pollock must also pay restitution in the vandalism case. He was fined $1,000 and is subject to three years of mandatory post-release control if he completes the entire prison sentence. The judge and Prosecutor’s Office did leave open the possibility of Pollock being released early to a community-based correctional facility for addiction treatment.

Pollock was convicted in 2011 and 2012 of felony drug possession. Both times he was placed on probation.

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The reality lessons Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Leuthold set forth Wednesday morning continued into the afternoon sessions, but it was 26-year-old Jesse Baird of Bucyrus who chose how his reality would be shaped.

Baird appeared in court for community control violations in which he allegedly operated a motor vehicle under the influence and without a license, failed to control the vehicle or obey a traffic control device, consumed alcohol on a home pass, and failed to comply with his community-based correctional facility program and consequently was unsuccessfully terminated from it. The violations all occurred on Dec. 25.

As Leuthold followed his normal procedure by appointing an attorney and preparing to set a bond, Baird interrupted the judge. He asked to forgo the attorney and be sentenced that afternoon. Leuthold was hesitant for Baird to go through with the proceedings without speaking to an attorney, but Baird was adamant about serving his time.

“I just want to apologize to the court today,” Baird said.

He admitted that he finished the program at the community-based correctional facility and was waiting to get out.

“I just got overwhelmed, being let out like that,” Baird said while Leuthold nodded in understanding. “I appreciate you sending me up there. It helped me out in some areas.”

Leuthold sympathized with Baird’s predicament and questioned whether letting someone out of a structured facility so quickly was really the best option for them. He turned to Baird for advice in this instance, asking if it would be better for defendants to be overseen by probation departments while completing a community-based correctional facility program in order to have some stability when they are released. Baird was in favor of that option.

Leuthold re-imposed Baird’s original 36-month prison sentence, of which he has already served nine months. Baird pleaded guilty to felony 2 robbery in 2012 and was granted judicial release in June of 2013. He violated his probation in August of 2016, but was continued on community control in favor of enrolling him in a community-based correctional facility.

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Twenty-eight-year-old Rebecca Eckenrode received one of the few opportunities for the intervention in lieu of conviction program granted by Judge Leuthold. Eckenrode pleaded guilty to one count of felony 5 drug possession and two counts of misdemeanor 1 drug possession. Her guilty plea will be held while she is on the intervention program which will include the court’s ISAT program.

Should Eckenrode successfully complete the intervention program the charges will be dropped.

Thirty-six-year-old Jonathon Oliver was formally sentenced to five years on community control for felony 5 complicity. The judge noted that Oliver’s role in a check-cashing scheme was a minor one. Oliver was not fined.