Appeals Court affirms local trial verdict

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

A Middle Point man convicted of tampering with evidence has had his appeal denied by an appellate court.

Dale Gear was found guilty of the third degree felony charge during a three day jury trial held in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court in July, 2022. He was sentenced to two years in prison but has since remained free on $100,000 bond, pending an appeal.

Gear took his case to the Third District Court of Appeals in Lima and in court papers, he claimed his conviction was not supported by sufficient evidence, that the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence, and that he was denied to his right of effective assistance of counsel. He also argued the trial court erred by failing to grant him a new trial.

However, in a written opinion released on Monday, the appeals court judges upheld the decision of the Van Wert County Common Pleas Court jury.

“Having found no error prejudicial to the appellant in the particulars assigned and argued, the judgment of the Van Wert County Court of Common Pleas is affirmed,” the judges wrote in the 28-page opinion.

The decision by the appeals court means Gear must report to the Van Wert County Correctional Facility by May 2. After reporting to the county jail, he’ll be transferred to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections for placement in one of the state’s prisons.

The tampering charge was tied to 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 2021 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.

An 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.