By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com

A suppression hearing that began Thursday and spilled over to Friday in the case against Erin Lewis ended with a no contest plea and a seven-year prison sentence.

Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold denied the defense motion to suppress evidence stemming from the search of the 39-year-old Bucyrus man and seizure of heroin.

Following that, Lewis entered a no contest plea to the charge of felony two drug possession and was sentenced by Leuthold to seven years in prison and fined $7,500. The maximum allowable prison sentence was eight years.

The no contest plea by Lewis allows him to retain certain appeal rights that would otherwise be forfeited by a guilty plea.

Bucyrus Police Chief David Koepke said, “This case is indicative of the ongoing issue we have with the flow of drugs into this community.”

The suppression hearing continued Friday with video from both the dash cam of Lt. Tom Walker’s patrol car and his body cam. Both videos showed the traffic stop of a vehicle owned and operated by Ashley Alspach in which Lewis was a passenger.

The video also showed pat downs and searches of both Alspah and Lewis, as well as the Bucyrus K-9 Unit Rosco indicating the presence of drugs at the driver’s side door of the car. The video also showed the subsequent search of Alspach’s car.

Both Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Hoovler and defense attorney James Mayer III questioned Walker about the stop, search and eventual discovery of heroin. Thursday testimony revealed that Lewis had been under investigation after a confidential informant told police Lewis and Heather Hunt were making trips to Columbus in Alspach’s car to pick up heroin and bring it back to Bucyrus.

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Walker testified he made the traffic stop at the direction of Koepke and Captain Joe Greathouse who said they witnessed Alspach driving recklessly and speeding within city limits. Under cross examination, Walker said he never issued a traffic ticket or warning to Alspach.

Walker further testified and could be heard on the video saying he thought he knew where the drugs could be found when they were not located in Alspach’s car. Walker clarified that he thought it was on the person of either Alspach or Lewis.

“I’m confident one of them is holding it,” Walker could be heard saying on the video. “I just can’t tell which one of them it is.”

Walker further detailed that he observed that Lewis was nervous whenever he was searched near the waistband of his pants.

Alspach was originally arrested on orders from Adult Paroled Authority Officer Dan Wurm and taken to the Crawford County Justice Center where she would have undergone a more intensive search as a matter of routine.

Lewis was arrested to be taken to the Bucyrus Police Department until a warrant was obtained authorizing a “more intrusive search.”

Walker then testified he notice that Lewis, who was then seated in the back of Walker’s car and handcuffed with his hands behind his back, “fidgeting and arching his back” while on the way to the police station.

Walker continued saying that when he helped Lewis from the car he noticed something on the ground at Lewis’s feet and observed Lewis kick it under the car. Waiting until Lewis had moved a safe distance so that he would be unable to kick the officer while bent over, Walker retrieved the item and found it to be a bag of heroin divided into doses.

Hoovler and Mayer both gave closing arguments prior to Leuthold issuing his ruling on the suppression motion. The judge gave a detailed reason for his ruling, particularly regarding the traffic stop itself, the use of the K-9 unit, the search of the defendant and seizure of evidence, and taking the defendant into custody.

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