The Van Wert County Courthouse

Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024

Jury finds Gear guilty of felony charge

VW independent news

A three-day jury trial ended with a guilty verdict against a Middle Point man charged with tampering with evidence.

The verdict against Dale Gear, 57, was handed down Wednesday in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court.

Dale Gear

Gear was indicted by a Van Wert County grand jury in August of 2021, in connection with the June, 2016 disappearance of Kori Glossett of Van Wert. Investigators learned that Gear had bonded Glossett out of jail June 24, 2016. Glossett disappeared the following day and has not been seen since.

Investigators retrieved samples of suspected blood from Gear’s home, garage and truck, but there were problems caused by limits on testing at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.

Gear’s property was searched again in July of last year and a bag with a towel and other items was found in a laundry chute in the home. Investigators said the bag was not there during the search five years earlier.

The indictment, filed days after the search, alleged that Gear did, on or about June 24, 2016, “alter, destroy, conceal or remove” potential evidence connected to Glossett’s disappearance.

Gear is scheduled to be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. July 27. He faces up to three years in prison.

POSTED: 06/08/22 at 2:49 pm. FILED UNDER: News