Heroin user gets prison in CP Court

Van Wert independent

A Van Wert man who sought treatment options for his heroin addiction received prison instead during a sentencing hearing held Wednesday in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court.

A frustrated Judge Charles D. Steele told defendant Kasey L. Schisler, 22, that “you’ve pretty much exhausted our avenues to treat that problem,” and sentenced the local man to 6 months in prison on a charge of possession of drugs.

Schisler and his attorney, John Hatcher, both sought a treatment alternative to prison, although Hatcher said his client had already participated in the program at the Western Ohio Regional Treatment and Habilitation (WORTH) Center in Lima – which offers a “tough love” type of drug treatment program, and also noted that Schisler couldn’t afford other residential treatment programs available.

The  judge did recommend Schisler for the Intensive Prison Program, which is similar to the WORTH Center program, if he qualified while in prison.

The drug count stemmed from a traffic stop by Van Wert police back in October 2010.

Also appearing in court on a probation violation charge was Craig Mason, 21, of Delphos, who was sentenced to 180 days in jail after admitting he violated probation by testing positive for heroin, lying to his probation officer about using opium and marijuana and failing to report or follow the guidelines of the community control program.

Mason was given the community control term during sentencing in June of last year on a charge of theft, a first-degree misdemeanor. The charge involved theft of a ring.