Funkhouser sentenced for role in chase

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

The driver involved in a short high-speed chase and crash in Van Wert last December received a substantial prison term this morning.

During a hearing in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court, Alicia Funkhouser, 36, Willshire, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, a third degree felony, and 24 months in prison for aggravated trafficking in drugs, also a third degree felony. Judge Martin D. Burchfield ordered the sentences to run consecutively, for a total of 54 months. She was given credit for 161 already served and was ordered to pay court costs.

Funkhouser and a co-defendant, Jesse Stemen, 36, also of Willshire, were arrested December 19, after a Van Wert police officer saw Stemen in a vehicle and knew of a warrant out for his arrest. The officer activated his overhead lights but Funkhouser sped away then ran a red light at Shannon St. and Fox Rd. and caused a head-on collision with another car.

The two ran from the accident and tried to hide from the police in a detached building near Taco Bell. However, the Van Wert Special Response Team was in the area training at the time. While Stemen and Funkhouser were hiding in the building, the SRT deployed a drone to locate the two hiding inside. They refused to surrender, so the Van Wert County Sheriff’s deputy gave commands and then released the the department’s K-9. Funkhouser sustained bite marks and both she and Stemen were taken into custody.

While investigating, police found a significant amount of meth in the car.

Stemen received an identical sentence, 54 months, during a hearing in late April. He was given credit for 132 days already served at the Van Wert County Correctional Facility.

In an unrelated case, Brittney Barajas, 29, Convoy was sentenced Wednesday morning to 12 months in prison for theft, a fifth degree felony; 16 months for theft from a person in a protected class, a fourth degree felony; 12 months for breaking and entering, a fifth degree felony, and 16 months for grand theft of a motor vehicle, a fourth degree felony. Judge Burchfield ordered the sentences to run concurrently and Barajas was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $2,500 and court costs.