By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Melinda Monroe’s inability to appear for her court hearing has landed her in jail. The 35-year-old woman had admitted to trafficking in drugs on Aug. 26 but failed to show for her dispositional hearing in October.
Judge Russell Wiseman revoked Monroe’s community control in Crawford County Common Pleas Court Monday afternoon and imposed the rest of her sentence, which amounted to roughly 20 months.
Amber Hall was fed up with the direction her life was taking and was ready to make some changes. That was essentially what the 26-year-old Bucyrus woman told Wiseman in Crawford County Common Pleas Court Monday afternoon.
Hall appeared in court for an initial hearing on her community control violations. She had been placed on a two-year intervention program on Aug. 27 but tested positive and admitted to using opiates on Sept. 17. She also failed to inform her supervising officer of her address and failed to report to that same officer since Sept. 22.
Hall waived her right to counsel and asked that her case be finalized that day. She said that, should she be placed on community control, she wished to live with her parents in Mt. Vernon. Hall assured the judge that they agreed to help her out.
“I want my kids back,” Hall cited for her motivation.
Wiseman revoked Hall’s intervention and placed her on community control for five years with the special condition that she enter into a drug and alcohol treatment program. She was ordered to be released to her parents. Revoking her intervention also meant that Hall will now have a felony conviction on her record. As part of her sentencing, she must pay a $1,250 mandatory drug fine and her driver’s license was suspended for six months.
Concerns about past history and the possibility of being a flight risk led Judge Russell Wiseman to hold 41-year-old Jason Utz on a $100,000 bond. Utz appeared in Crawford County Common Pleas Court Monday afternoon for a community control violation hearing on two cases.
Utz had been granted judicial release on March 18, 2013 after serving time for duty to register and drug possession. On Monday, his supervising officer alleged that Utz had admitted to selling prescription pills on Dec. 8 and failed to report to that same officer as ordered on Dec. 2.
Wiseman appointed Tim O’Leary, who had served his Utz’s counsel on both previous cases, as his attorney. Due to Utz trafficking in drugs and being homeless, as well as a flight risk and his past history, bond was set at $100,000.