False claim leads to jail for VW man

VW independent staff

A Van Wert man accused of making a false claim against the police department will spend six months in the county jail.

Leonard DeLong, 36, was sentenced to 180 days in the Van Wert County Correctional Facility, after a one day jury trial Wednesday in Van Wert Municipal Court. He was convicted of falsification, a first degree misdemeanor and received the maximum sentence.

According to a police report dated May 12, Delong and his girlfriend, Latricia Darst, made multiple calls to the police department about being harassed by law enforcement and being struck by a Van Wert Police Department cruiser while riding his bicycle. He claimed the incident occurred the previous night on E. First St. and he claimed he had video evidence, but refused to share it with investigating officers.

In the report, it was noted that marked Van Wert City Police cruisers all have Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) equipment installed in them. A historical report was checked and none of the cruisers in use that night were in the area as DeLong had claimed, which led to the falsification charge.

DeLong had another run in with local law enforcement officers in mid-July. He was arrested July 11, when Van Wert County Sheriff’s deputies attempted to serve him with a warrant charging him with making terroristic threats, a third degree felony. The warrant was tied to threats made by DeLong earlier in the day after Darst, had been sentenced to a year in prison for assaulting a Van Wert Police officer. DeLong had gone to the jail to see Darst but was told no because it was outside of visiting hours.

That night, DeLong refused to come out of an E. Second St. home but eventually surrendered peacefully. He eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of inducing panic, a first degree misdemeanor and was sentenced to 60 days in jail but was given credit for 55 already served.