{"id":212253,"date":"2026-11-12T21:30:06","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T02:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=212253"},"modified":"2026-11-12T21:30:33","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T02:30:33","slug":"arraignments-sentencing-held-in-common-pleas-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/11\/12\/arraignments-sentencing-held-in-common-pleas-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Arraignments, sentencing held in Common Pleas Court"},"content":{"rendered":"
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VW independent staff<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven defendants were arraigned on various criminal charges, while one other person was sentenced on a felony charge on Tuesday. All of the hearings were held in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court, with Judge Martin D. Burchfield presiding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phillip Cross, 38, of Delphos, entered a not guilty plea to possession of cocaine and trafficking in cocaine, both first degree felonies. He was released on a surety bond and a pre-trial conference was scheduled for 8 a.m. December 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Willke, 37, of New Castle, Indiana, entered a not guilty plea to receiving stolen property, a fourth degree felony. Bond was set at $100,000 cash or surety and a pre-trial conference was set for 10 a.m. December 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tyler Barbaree, 35, of Van Wert, entered a not guilty plea to criminal damaging or endangering, a first degree misdemeanor, and obstructing official business, a fourth degree felony. Bond  wasset at $250,000 cash or surety along with a waiver of extradition. A pre-trial conference was scheduled for 9 a.m. December 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colby Black, 42, of Van Wert, pleaded not guilty to aggravated possession of drugs, a felony of the fifth degree. He was released on a surety bond and a pre-trial conference was scheduled for 10 a.m. December 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Frank Alexander, Jr., 33, of Van Wert entered a not guilty plea to grand theft of a motor vehicle, a fourth degree felony, and aggravated robbery, a first degree elony. Judge Burchfield set bond at $50,000 cash or surety and scheduled a pre-trial conference for 2 p.m. Tuesday, November 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeramiah Harris, 24, of Van Wert, pleaded not guilty to grand theft of a motor vehicle, a fourth degree felony, and aggravated robbery, a second degree felony. He was released on a surety bond and a pre-trial conference was scheduled for 8 a.m. December 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malcolm Oliver, 30, of Delphos, pleaded not guilty to violating a protection order, a fifth degree felony. 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 a.m. December 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to those hearings, Karen Hemker, 58, of Delphos, was sentenced to three years of community control and 30 days in jail at a later date for theft from a protected person, a third degree felony. She must undergo a mental health and substance abuse assessment and any treatment and random screens, and was ordered to pay restitution, partial appointed counsel fees, monthly probation fees and court costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VW independent staff Seven defendants were arraigned on various criminal charges, while one other person was sentenced on a felony charge on Tuesday. All of the hearings were held in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court, with Judge Martin D. Burchfield presiding. Phillip Cross, 38, of Delphos, entered a not guilty plea to possession of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-topstory"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-11-20 00:27:29","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\/212253","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=212253"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212269,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212253\/revisions\/212269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}