By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
A man that Judge Sean Leuthold believed was not always bad will be doing some time in prison.
Robert Osborn, 28, pleaded guilty to felony 5 theft in Crawford County Common Pleas Court Thursday morning. He was sentenced to nine months in prison, fined $750, and ordered to pay $5,694.97 in restitution to one victim and $548 to Victory Rock Church.
“I hope to get out and continue my sobriety,” Osborn stated.
Leuthold started off the proceeding by saying he was bothered by sending Osborn to prison, especially since he liked the man and knew Osborn attempted to get clean a number of times. Despite that, Leuthold also understood that Osborn was not a good person when he was on drugs.
“Think about what you’ve done,” Leuthold said. “Every time you backslide you hurt somebody who tried to help you.”
RELATED CONTENT: Charge of rape draws $1 million bond
The circumstances surrounding Michaela Goshe’s case were something Leuthold has been seeing routinely over the last year. One part of a couple – usually the boyfriend – gets the other half mixed up with drugs and crime before receiving serious prison sentences.
“This is a common thing that happens,” Leuthold said. He added that the significant other often cannot make progress when the boyfriend was still in the picture. “This is what I think we have here, too.”
Leuthold, satisfied that Goshe was not the ringleader in the situation, accepted her guilty plea to complicity, a second-degree felony, and tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony. Though the two felonies carry a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison, Goshe’s agreed-to sentence will include five years on community control, entrance into the court’s Intensive Supervision and Treatment (ISAT) program, 180 days in the county jail, and a $5,000 fine.
“You’ve got 11 years (potentially) – you have to behave yourself,” Leuthold, who did not believe prison was the right answer for Goshe, said. “I’m not going to let you go down the drain. I want to save you. But, ultimately, you have to do it yourself.”
Leuthold ordered a pre-sentence investigation and continued Goshe’s bond. She will be formally sentenced at a later hearing.
Abbie Riley pleaded guilty to felony 5 drug possession. The 24-year-old Bucyrus woman is expected to be sentenced to five years on community control after a pre-sentence investigation is completed. Her agreed-to sentence also included entrance into the ISAT program, 90 days in the county jail, a six-month driver’s license suspension, and a $1,250 fine.
“I’m very skeptical. I’ve agreed to do this because you fit the (ISAT) profile,” said Leuthold, who did not believe Riley had the right attitude for the program nor was interested in it. “Get your head on straight because you’re not going to come out (of jail) and jerk me around.”
Thirty-one-year-old Jeremiah Cottrell, of Galion, appeared in court for an initial hearing on community control violations. Cottrell, who was placed on probation in April of 2015 after pleading guilty to drug possession, allegedly tested positive for cocaine and opiates on July 27. Leuthold appointed Grant Garverick as Cottrell’s attorney and set bond at $150,000.
RELATED CONTENT: Two of three Galion drug bust defendants plead guilty | Three arrested in Galion drug sting