Wells Superior Court
Criminal Cases
Greg Allen Capper Sr., 59, Montpelier, pleaded guilty to failure to register as a sex offender, a Level 6 felony.
Sentenced to two years in prison, with all but 282 days suspended — credited as time served, and placed on probation for 448 days.
Ordered to submit a DNA sample, and pay court costs and probation fees.
As part of a plea agreement, a second count of failure to register as a sex offender, a Level 6 felony, was dismissed.
Capper was charged with failing to re-register after having been evicted from his previous residence Nov. 20, 2021.
Capper is required to register as a sex offender for life after having been convicted in Blackford County Circuit Court Nov. 26, 2007, on a charge of child molesting.
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Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Marshall Dillon Smith, 28, Bluffton, charged with one count of possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony. Bond continued at $15,000. State announces intent to seek habitual offender status against Dillon.
On Feb. 3, officers and medics responded to Dillon’s residence in the 200 block of East Ohio Street on a report that Smith was collapsed on the kitchen floor of the residence and unresponsive. That is how officers and medics found him as they began to administer life-saving aid to Smith.
In the process, an officer removed a small plastic bag that was sticking out of one of Smith’s jacket pockets. A crystalline substance in a smaller plastic bag contained within the larger bag allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine.
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Joy Hough, 47, Ridgeville, pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.
Sentenced to 60 days in the Wells County Jail, all suspended, and placed on probation for one year.
Ordered to pay court costs and probation fees. Probation may be terminated early.
Shaya Shrout, 23, Ridgeville, pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.
Sentenced to 60 days in the Wells County Jail, all suspended, and placed on probation for one year. Ordered to pay court costs and probation fees.
At 9:20 p.m. April 15, a state trooper pulled over a vehicle on a traffic stop on Marion Street. During the course of the stop, he noticed a parked van nearby occupied by two women. Hough was seated in the driver’s seat and Shrout in the passenger seat.
The trooper reported being able to smell an odor of raw marijuana and asked the male driver of the vehicle he had pulled over if he had any marijuana in his vehicle. He said he did not. The trooper then began to question if the odor he was smelling was coming not from the car he had pulled over but from the nearby parked van.
He walked over to the van and as he approached, he reported the smell grew stronger. The trooper asked the two women if their van had been blocked in and they were kept from exiting the parking lot onto the street by the traffic stop the trooper had performed. The trooper then returned to the traffic stop and advised the male driver to pull his car into an alley to avoid blocking the exit to the parking lot.
When the trooper was finished with the traffic stop, he noticed the van was gone, but then spotted it southbound on Main Street and decided to follow it. Near Reiffsburg, on Ind. 1, the trooper pulled the van over for 57 mph-55 zone and because he had smelled an odor of marijuana emanating from it earlier.
Hough reportedly admitted to the trooper she had been smoking marijuana with her son earlier in the evening. Hough then reportedly turned over a metal pipe with a substance in the bowl that had the odor and appearance of burned marijuana.
The trooper then returned to the van and explained to Shrout that Hough had given him permission to search the van. He asked Shrout if she had anything illegal in her possession and she also reportedly handed the trooper a rubber pipe that contained residue consistent with the odor and appearance of burned marijuana.
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Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Hunter Logan Clark, 22, Spencerville, charged with possession of marijuana with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Class A misdemeanor; driving while suspended with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Class A misdemeanor; possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor; operating a motor vehicle without insurance, a Class A misdemeanor; and unsafe movement of a vehicle from lane to lane, a Class C infraction. Bond continued at $3,500. Pauper status denied.
On May 3, police received a driving complaint on a black GMC Jimmy southbound on Main Street. As the complaint was being dispatched by the dispatcher, the vehicle passed directly in front of a Bluffton police officer who then pulled out of the Little Caesars Pizza restaurant parking lot and started following the Jimmy. The Jimmy crossed over into the center turn lane and made a left turn into O’Reilly’s auto parts.
The officer followed the Jimmy into the parking lot and noticed that its license plate actually belonged on a silver Dodge. The officer pulled in behind the Jimmy and spoke with the driver, identified as Clark.
Clark allegedly admitted that his driver’s license was suspended and that he had bought the Jimmy after wrecking his Dodge. He switched the license plates but did not register the Jimmy. He reportedly had no proof of insurance.
While being booked into the Wells County Jail, both marijuana and drug paraphernalia in his possession.
A search of the Jimmy reportedly turned up two bongs — both containing residue with the odor and appearance of marijuana, a small glass pipe with residue, a small tin containing two small straws with white residue on them, a labeled glass jar containing a green leafy plant material with the odor and appearance of marijuana and a prescription pill bottle containing two pills for the prescription anti-depressant Sertraline. The bottle was labeled for a person other than Clark.
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Ashlyn N. Graham, 24, Bluffton, violated probation by testing positive for fentanyl, fluorofentanyl, and norfentanyl during a random drug test performed March 22, and for failing to truthfully answer reasonable questions proposed to her by her probation officer on March 22.
Ordered to serve 274 days in the Wells County Jail. Upon completion of her sentence, her probation will terminate.
Graham was originally sentenced Nov. 17, 2020, on charges of resisting law enforcement, a Class A misdemeanor, and unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle, a Class B misdemeanor.
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Pamela Ramseyer, 63, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, a Class A misdemeanor.
Sentenced to a year in the Wells County Jail, with all but two days suspended — credited as time served, and placed on probation for 363 days.
Ordered to serve 30 days of home detention and pay court costs and probation fees.
As part of a plea agreement, one count of operating a vehicle with a Schedule I or II controlled substance or its metabolite in her body, a Class C misdemeanor, was dismissed.
On July 23, 2021, Ossian Fire Department first responders, Wells County EMS, Ossian Police officers and Wells County Sheriff’s deputies responded to The Ossian Deli on a report of a woman passed out at the steering wheel of a vehicle parked in the parking lot.
The woman turned out to be Ramseyer.
Ramseyer appeared lethargic and was unable to complete field sobriety tests. During the course of the investigation, a deputy reportedly found a prescription bottle of the attention deficit disorder drug Adderall in Ramseyer’s possession. The prescription was for one pill daily and had been filled two days earlier. Just 12 pills were left in the 30-pill bottle.
A toxicology test reportedly showed the presence of THC — the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, methadone, amphetamine and Phenylpropanolamine — the active ingredient in over-the-counter cold medications.
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Chelsea K. Patton, 32, Bluffton, violated probation by testing positive for alcohol consumption March 11.
Ordered to serve 294 days in the Wells County Jail. Upon completion of her sentence, her probation will terminate.
Patton was originally sentenced March 23, 2021, on one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Level 6 felony.
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Robert DeWayne Connett, 47, Bluffton, pldeaded guilty to driving while suspended with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Class A misdemeanor.
Sentenced to a year in the Wells County Jail, with all but 76 days suspended — credited as time served, and placed on probation for 289 days.
Ordered to report to a substance abuse counseling program and pay court costs and probation fees.
On March 29, Bluffton police received a report of a northbound Ford Mustang on Main Street with a flat tire that was holding up traffic.
A Bluffton police officer pulled the vehicle over and observed it had two “very flat” tires. Connett reportedly told the officer he was trying to make it to Walmart for repairs. The officer advised he wasn’t going to be able to do that because the tires were too flat and he knew Connett had a suspended driver’s license.
Wells Circuit Court
Criminal Cases
Petition for expungement and sealing of criminal records filed by Terry L. Myers, 38, rural Ossian.
Civil Cases
Complaint for payment of $2,345.89 filed by OneMain Financial Group LLC, Anderson, against April D. Cearbaugh, Ossian.
Complaint for payment of $6,150.74 filed by UHG I LLC, Indianapolis, against Heather Hale, Bluffton.
Complaint for payment of $1,329.94 filed by Midland Credit Management Inc., Louisville, Ky., against Tiffani Campbell, rural Bluffton.
