1 gets prison during hearings in CP Court

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Six cases were heard in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday, with four of those coming before Judge Martin D. Burchfield and the other two before County Probate-Juvenile Court Judge Kevin Taylor.

Judge Burchfield sentenced four people, including handing down a prison term to Christie Kerner, 38, of Van Wert, who appeared for sentencing on a charge of forgery, a felony of the fifth degree. Kerner received a 12-month prison sentence, with Judge Burchfield giving her credit for seven days already served. She must also pay restitution of $70 to the victim in the case.

Randal Michaelson, 26, of Venedocia, was given five years of community control, including up to six months in the Western Ohio Regional Treatment and Habilitation (WORTH) Center in Lima, on a charge of trafficking in heroin, a fifth-degree felony, and endangering children, a misdemeanor of the first degree.

Michaelson was also given a six-month driver’s license suspension by Judge Burchfield.

Andria Temple, 34, of Van Wert, was also given five years of community control, to include 90 days in jail, on a charge of theft, a felony of the fifth degree.

She was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $310 to her victims.

Daniel Craig, 33, of Van Wert, was given three years of community control, including 30 days in jail, that will be served consecutively to a jail term he is already serving on misdemeanor counts of attempted possession of heroin and attempted possession of cocaine.

Judge Taylor sentenced Jacquelyn Forthman, 26, of Venedocia, to five years of community control, including up to six months at the WORTH Center, on a charge of complicity to trafficking in heroin, a felony of the fifth degree.

Forthman must also earn her General Educational Development (GED) certificate.

Judge Taylor also placed Forthman on a second five-year community control term, with the same conditions as the first sentence, after she admitted to violating her probation by being convicted of the complicity to trafficking offense.

Judge Taylor also presided over a hearing on a request by Roger Hibbard, 38, of Paulding, for an early release from jail to attend the WORTH Center.

The judge denied the motion, which would mean Hibbard’s WORTH Center term wouldn’t begin until after his current jail term expires.