{"id":189568,"date":"2025-02-13T10:51:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T15:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=189568"},"modified":"2025-02-13T10:51:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T15:51:06","slug":"woman-charged-in-od-death-arraigned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/02\/13\/woman-charged-in-od-death-arraigned\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman charged in OD death arraigned"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VW independent staff\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Van Wert woman charged in connection with the overdose death of a relative last summer was one of eight people arraigned in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court. A total of 12 hearings were held between Thursday, February 7, and Wednesday, February 12. Judge Martin D. Burchfield presided over each of the hearings.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arraignments\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

April Diltz, 46, of Van Wert, entered a not guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter, a first degree felony; corrupting another with drugs, a second degree felony, and possession of a fentanyl-related compound, a fourth degree felony. \u00a0She was released on a surety bond with electronic house arrest and a pre-trial conference was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. March 5.\u00a0 The charges against Diltz are tied to the July 3, 2024, death of a relative. According to a report from Van Wert Police Chief Doug Weigle, Diltz and relative were in a motel room in the city and were using drugs. The relative overdosed and passed away. Officers obtained a search warrant for the room and seized suspected drugs and paraphernalia. The report stated that Diltz later admitted the drugs were hers.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Daniel Lehmkuhle, 26, of Delphos, entered a not guilty plea to counterfeiting, a fourth degree felony, and attempted counterfeiting, a fifth degree felony. Bond set at $5,000 cash or surety and a pre-trial conference was scheduled for 8 a.m. March 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eugene Shultz, 47, of Miamisburg, entered a not guilty plea to non-support of dependents, a fifth degree felony.  He was released on a surety bond and a pre-trial conference was scheduled for 9 a.m. March 6. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua Sargent, 43, of Van Wert, entered a not guilty plea to domestic violence and strangulation, both third degree felonies. \u00a0Bond was set at $50,000 cash or commercial surety. Sargent was ordered to have no contact with the victim and a pre-trial conference was scheduled for 8 a.m. March 5.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric Pedemonti, 34, of Van Wert, entered a not guilty plea to theft, a fifth degree felony, and grand theft of a motor vehicle, a fourth degree felony.\u00a0 Judge Burchfield set bond at $10,000 cash or surety and scheduled a pre-trial conference for 9 a.m. March 6.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Lewis, 60, of Van Wert, entered a not guilty plea to breaking and entering and theft, both fifth degree felonies. He was released on a surety bond and a pre-trial conference was scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, February 20.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fiona Monosmith, 35, of Spencerville, entered a not guilty plea to OVI, a first degree misdemeanor, and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle, a fourth degree felony. She was released on a surety bond and a pre-trial conference was set 1 p.m. Thursday, February 27. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Amber Baker, 35, entered a not guilty plea to non-support of dependents, a fifth degree felony. \u00a0She was released on a surety bond and a pre-trial conference was scheduled for 8 a.m. March 6.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sentencing<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After violating his probation, Chad Ratliff, 47, of Van Wert was sentenced to 15 months in prison for domestic violence, a fourth degree felony. He was given credit for 116 days already served and was ordered to pay court costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bond\/treatment in lieu violation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily Apple, 38, of Paulding, violated her bond and intervention in lieu by failing drug screens. \u00a0Judge Burchfield set new bond at $10,000 cash or surety and a further hearing was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, February 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time waivers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leslie Weisenberger, 41, of Mendon, signed a time waiver in open court and requested additional time to prepare her case. A trial was scheduled for April 21-22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gary Yates, 41, of Van Wert, signed a waiver of jury trial. \u00a0A previously scheduled jury trial on March 3 will now be a bench trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VW independent staff\u00a0 A Van Wert woman charged in connection with the overdose death of a relative last summer was one of eight people arraigned in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court. A total of 12 hearings were held between Thursday, February 7, and Wednesday, February 12. Judge Martin D. Burchfield presided over each of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 00:01:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189568"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189570,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189568\/revisions\/189570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}