Pair get prison for violating probation

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Two people had prison terms handed down for probation violation during hearings held Tuesday in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court.

Taylor S. Baker, 21, of Van Wert, had a 12-month sentence handed down, with credit for 181 days already served, after he admitted to violating his community control program by being terminated from the Western Ohio Regional Treatment and Habilitation (WORTH) Center in Lima.

Kyle Barnes, 26, also of Van Wert, was sentenced to nine months in prison after he also admitted to violating his community control by being terminated from the WORTH Center program. Judge Charles D. Steele gave Barnes credit for 111 days already served.

One other person was sentenced on Tuesday. Christopher Day, 40, of Van Wert, received three years of community control on a charge of possession of cocaine, a fifth-degree felony offense.

As part of his sentence, Day will also have to serve 90 days on electronically monitored house arrest, while his driver’s license was suspended for six months.

A six-month prison term was suspended pending completion of his community control sentence.

In a fourth hearing on Tuesday, an 18-year-old Van Wert man, Mack A. Johnson Jr., changed his plea to guilty to a charge of aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony. He then requested, and was granted, treatment in lieu of conviction and his case was stayed until he successfully completes a substance abuse treatment program.