By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Two men were sent back to prison Monday afternoon for violating their community control.
Twenty-three-year-old Jordan Ernsberger was sentenced to just shy of five years in prison after he admitted to having his urine test positive for marijuana on two occasions and changing his address without informing his parole officer.
Judge Sean Leuthold re-imposed Ernsberger’s original sentences in two cases for a total of 59 months. He will receive credit for the time he originally completed in prison and the time he spent at a community-based correctional facility.
“You already caught a break once,” Leuthold said, noting that previous Judge Russell Wiseman granted Ernsberger judicial release in the forgery and receiving stolen property cases. “You squandered every opportunity you’ve gotten . . . I hope you’ve learned your lesson.”
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Thirty-year-old Timothy Ward Jr. of Crestline admitted to attempting to cause damage to a Crestline Police Department car and physical damage to a Crestline officer, resisting lawful arrest, testing positive for the use of THC, and consuming alcoholic beer.
Ward, who pleaded guilty to robbery in 2009 and was granted judicial release before serving his entire four-year prison sentence, was sentenced back to prison for the community control violations.
“You’re lucky in some ways,” remarked Leuthold. “I can pretty much assure you that if you committed robbery in front of me, you wouldn’t have gotten four years.”
Leuthold ordered Ward to be returned to prison to finish out the remainder of his four-year prison sentence. Ward will also be required to serve three years on post-release control after he is released from prison.
The third family member to plead guilty to a scam targeting the elderly narrowly avoided prison Monday afternoon.
Eighteen-year-old Maison Lovell was sentenced to five years on community control for the two counts of theft, both fourth-degree felonies. Lovell and two relatives, Mike Stanley and Jack Lovell Jr., were convicted for swindling $26,400 from a 94-year-old man in a driveway sealing scam. Stanley was placed on community control for one year while Jack Lovell, Jr. was sentence to 12 months in prison after being found guilty by a jury in November. A warrant is still out for Lovell’s uncle.
“This is a case that I personally find disgusting,” said Leuthold from the bench. The judge believed Lovell should have known what he was getting in to when he took part in the crime.
“You took advantage of his age and probably his trusting nature and ripped him off,” Leuthold reprimanded. “It makes me sick to my stomach. I would hope you’re ashamed of yourself. I would hope you took a look at yourself in the mirror and ask ‘what have I done?’”
Lovell will take part in paying back $26,400 to the victim and Leuthold warned him that he would not be able to coast through the payments.
“The bottom line is if you don’t make some payments, you’re going to prison,” Leuthold said. “You give me an excuse. I will gladly send you because people steal form the elderly are the lowest form of life . . . I’ll ship you to prison with a smile on my face.”
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