{"id":203684,"date":"2026-03-11T23:03:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T04:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=203684"},"modified":"2026-03-12T22:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T03:36:16","slug":"more-than-a-dozen-defendants-appear-in-local-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/03\/11\/more-than-a-dozen-defendants-appear-in-local-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Defendants appear for court hearings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

14 criminal defendants appeared in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court between March 5-11. Five the defendants are charged with domestic violence and\/or strangulation, while four others are facing drug charges. Judge Martin D. Burchfield presided over each of the hearings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plea changes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Lowe, 55, of Sturgis, Michigan, changed his plea to guilty to three counts of gross sexual imposition, all third degree felonies. Judge Burchfield ordered a pre-sentence investigation and scheduled sentencing for 2:30 p.m. April 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crystal Robison, 38, of Van Wert, changed her plea to guilty go an amended indictment of strangulation, a fourth degree felony. Judge Burchfield ordered a pre-sentence investigation and scheduled sentencing for 9 a.m. April 22. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Shane Neuman, 42, of Delphos, changed his plea to guilty to an amended indictment of domestic violence, a first degree misdemeanor. He was sentenced to one year of probation, 30 days in jail at a later date, was ordered to have no contact with the victims, and was ordered to pay court costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Craig, 44, of Van Wert, changed his plea to guilty of an amended indictment of domestic violence, a fourth degree felony. A pre-sentence investigation was ordered and sentencing was scheduled for 9 a.m. April 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Cainan Burnett, 28, of Van Wert, entered a not guilty plea to aggravated possession of drugs and aggravated trafficking in drugs, both second degree felonies. Bond was set at $100,000 cash or surety and a pre-trial conference was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. April 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua Sargent, 44, of Van Wert, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, a first degree felony, and corrupting another with drugs, a second degree felony. He was released on a surety bond; and a pre-trial conference was scheduled for 8 a.m. April 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph Klett, 49, of Van Wert, pleaded not guilty to aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth degree felony. He was released on a surety bond and a pre-trial conference was set for 8 a.m. April 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Johnny Nunemaker, 38, of Ohio City, entered a not guilty plea to strangulation, a fifth degree felony, and assault, a first degree misdemeanor. He was released on a surety bond and was ordered to have no contact with the victim. A pre-trial conference was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. April 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haley Bloom, 31, of Cloverdale, entered a not guilty plea to aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth degree felony. She was released on a surety bond and a pre-trial conference was scheduled for 8 a.m. April 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cordero Canales, 37, of Fostoria, pleaded not guilty to strangulation, a fourth degree felony; assault, a first degree misdemeanor, and criminal damaging or endangering, a second degree misdemeanor. He was released on a surety bond and was ordered to have no contact with the victim. A pre-trial conference was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. April 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bond\/probation violations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Green, 50, of Van Wert, admitted to violating his bond by failing to report to probation. Bond set at $25,000 cash or surety. A pre-trial conference will be set at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyle Coble, 40, of Elida, admitted to violating his probation by having contact with the victim. Judge Burchfield released him on a surety bond and canceled the no contact order per the request of the victim. Sentencing was scheduled for 9 a.m. April 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Dustin Lehmkuhle, 36, of Van Wert, signed a time waiver in open court and requested additional time to prepare his case. A pre-trial conference was scheduled for 9 a.m. April 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drew Ducheney, 30, of Ohio City, signed a time waiver in open court and requested additional time to prepare his case. A pre-trial conference was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. April 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VW independent staff 14 criminal defendants appeared in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court between March 5-11. Five the defendants are charged with domestic violence and\/or strangulation, while four others are facing drug charges. Judge Martin D. Burchfield presided over each of the hearings. Plea changes David Lowe, 55, of Sturgis, Michigan, changed his plea […]<\/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-203684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 07:43:50","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\/203684","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=203684"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203752,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203684\/revisions\/203752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}