Wells Superior Court
Criminal Cases
Michael Burton Taylor, 48, Andrews, pleaded guilty to domestic battery committed in the presence of a child less than 16 years old, a Level 6 felony.
Sentenced to two years in prison, with all but 30 days suspended, and placed on probation for 700 days. The term of the sentence is to be served consecutively with a term meted Nov. 22, 2021, in Huntington Superior Court on charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Taylor was granted two days of good conduct time credit for time spent incarcerated awaiting disposition of his case. The remaining 28 days is to be spent in the Wells County Jail.
Ordered to undergo batterer intervention counseling, submit a DNA sample, and pay court costs and probation fees.
As part of a plea agreement, one count of interfering with the reporting of a crime, a Class A misdemeanor, was dismissed.
Taylor was charged with kicking a female during an argument at a Bluffton residence in the presence of their three small children Sept. 24, 2021.
He then reportedly took the woman’s phone and dropped it into a water-filled sink in an apparent attempt to prevent her from calling police.
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Sentencing set for 8:30 a.m. March 15 for Austin Rigdon, 22, Huntington, who pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person with a prior conviction for the same or a similar offense, a Level 6 felony.
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Sentencing set for 8:30 a.m. March 15 for Lisa Rena Evans, 50, Bluffton, who pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony.
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James O. Cox, 27, Gas City, pleaded guilty to aggressive driving, a Class A. misdemeanor.
Sentenced to a year in the Wells County Jail, with all but 10 days suspended. Credited for two days spent incarcerated awaiting disposition of his case. Ordered to serve 355 days on probation.
Ordered to report to an anger management program and pay court costs and probation fees.
Cox was charged with deliberately causing a three-vehicle crash on Ind. 3 March 28, 2021. Cox’s vehicle was reportedly passed by a woman in a separate vehicle. Cox then apparently became upset over being passed and passed the woman’s vehicle then slammed on his brakes. The woman’s vehicle hit Cox’s vehicle from behind. The woman’s vehicle was then hit from behind by a vehicle that was behind her.
Cox told the investigating sheriff’s deputy that he “was afraid for his life” after passing the woman and he hit his brakes hard to make a sudden turn onto 1200S.
Cox’s version of what occurred did not concur with either the woman’s version or the witness account provided by the driver of the vehicle that hit the woman’s vehicle from behind. Nor did it concur with the examination of an off-duty Indiana State Police accident reconstructionist, who came upon the scene shortly after the crash happened.
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Plea of not guilty entered by Emma Sue Clines, 21, Bluffton, charged with operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalency of .08 percent or more with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Level 6 felony; operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Level 6 felony; possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor; possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor; driving while suspended, a Class A infraction and speeding, a Class C infraction.
A sheriff’s deputy was monitoring traffic on Ind. 1 at 400N at 1:04 a.m. Dec. 16, 2021, when he reported Clines passed by where he was posted driving 70 mph-55 zone.
The deputy pulled the vehicle over near 300N. He observed in his report to the court that Clines appeared intoxicated, failed standardized feild sobriety tests and blew a .103 percent breath alcohol concentration on certified breath test machine at the Wells County Jail. The legal limit for intoxication in Indiana is .08 percent.
In the course of placing her under arrest, the deputy reported finding a small plastic bag containing a green leafy plant material that had the odor and appearance of marijuana in Clines’ right coat pocket. In her left coat pocket he reported finding an e-lquid vaporizer with a e-liquid cartridge from Muha Meds, a company that dispenses e-liquid containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
Clines had two prior conviction for driving while intoxicated — one in Allen County Superior Court Aug. 17, 2021, and the other in Michigan July 19, 2021.
