3 earn prison for probation violation

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Three people who received prison terms for violating their probation were among the nine people who appeared Wednesday for criminal hearings in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court.

Chad Kouts, 26, of Van Wert, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, with credit for 102 days already served, after he admitted to violating his probation by failing to report to probation. Probate-Juvenile Court Judge Kevin Taylor also gave Kouts credit for 102 days already served.

Kyle Heiser, 24, of Celina, was also given 12 months in prison, with credit for 211 days already served. Judge Taylor ordered that Heiser serve his sentence in the Mercer County Jail in Celina concurrently with a sentence he is already serving there.

Heiser admitted violating his probation on a charge of breaking and entering, a fifth-degree felony, by possessing and using marijuana.

Brittney Lindeman, 31, of Van Wert, admitted to violating her probation on two counts of trafficking in drugs by being convicted of a drug trafficking charge in Adams County, Indiana. Lindeman was sentenced to nine months in prison on each count, to run concurrently, with Judge Taylor giving her four days credit for time already served.

Three other people were in court Wednesday on probation violation charges.

Ryanne Doner, 36, of Van Wert, admitted to violating her probation by failing to report to probation. She was given one year of community control.

Dustyn Taylor, 25, of Convoy, admitted to violating his term of probation, handed down on charge of burglary and drug possession, by helping his neighbor “shoot up” with heroin and by testing positive for drug use. He was resentenced to three years of community control and an additional 60 days in jail.

Tiffany Dearing, 32, of Van Wert, admitted violating her probation on a drug possession charge by refusing to complete treatment. She was sentenced to 180 days in jail, with credit for 80 days already served.

Also Wednesday, David Seibert, 23, of Van Wert was resentenced on a charge of attempted corruption of another with drugs, a felony of the fifth degree. Seibert was given nine months in prison by Judge Martin Burchfield, with credit for 137 days already served.

Robert Galloway Jr., 33, of Van Wert, had his bond modified to remove the condition that he have no contact with an alleged victim in his case. The change was made at the request of the alleged victim. A pretrial conference was also scheduled in the case for 8 a.m. Wednesday, November 23.

Jacob Thomas, 24, of Ohio City, pleaded guilty to a prosecutor’s bill of information charging him with trespass in a habitation, a felony of the fourth degree. His original charge of gross sexual imposition was dismissed in exchange for the guilty plea to the trespass charge.

Judge Burchfield ordered a presentence investigation in the case and Thomas was ordered to appear for sentencing at 9 a.m. Wednesday, November 30.