By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
Drug-related probation violations continue to earn the ire of Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold. They also continue to earn the violators time in prison.
Two such cases came before the judge on Monday morning.
Twenty-seven-year-old Haley Walters of Sycamore admitted she violated probation by being in possession of heroin and refusing a drug screen. Walters was on community control as a result of a 2015 conviction for fifth-degree felony theft and a 2014 conviction for fifth-degree drug possession.
“I think you are absolutely out of control. I think you are more of a danger to yourself than anyone else,” Leuthold told Walters.
Leuthold followed the recommendation of Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Hoovler and sentenced Walters to consecutive 12-month prison sentences for a total of 24 months with credit for time served.
However, the judge also said he would release Walters after she had served 12 months of that sentence and place her in the court’s Intensive Supervision and Treatment program.
“If you mess up I’m going to send you back to prison,” Leuthold said.
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Forty-year-year-old Leigh Lovely was literally within months of completing community control, but instead is going to prison. Lovely was convicted in 2011 of fourth-degree drug trafficking and was sentenced to 15-months in prison for the probation violation with credit for jail time and time spent in a court-ordered drug treatment program.
Lovely admitted to using cocaine after she tested positive on a drug screen. Defense attorney Adam Stone argued Lovely had suffered a lapse, meaning a one-time set back, and not a relapse into drug use again.
“She has a structure in place to be successful long term,” Stone said of Lovely.
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Two other cases came before the court for formal sentencing. Neither Kevin Belcher nor Pamela Eckenrode were prison eligible and both were sentenced to five years on community control.
Belcher was also placed into the ISAT program and ordered to pay $100 in restitution. Belcher was convicted of fifth-degree breaking and entering.
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Sixty-one-year-old Pamela Eckenrode of Crestline was not only placed on community control, but ordered to pay $408 in restitution and given a stern lecture.
“Your behavior is atrocious, it is deplorable,” the judge told Eckenrode. “You should be ashamed.”
Eckenrode was convicted of four counts of fifth-degree forgery. The victim was an elderly person for whom Eckenrode was a caregiver.
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