Wells Superior Court
Criminal Cases
Kyle Wayne Souter, 39, Decatur, pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalency of .15 percent or more with a prior conviction for the same or a similar offense, a Level 6 felony, and with being an habitual vehicular substance offender.
Sentenced to a total of 2,372 days in prison with all but 1,642 days suspended.
Placed on probation for 730 days.
Credited for 12 days spent incarcerated awaiting disposition of his case.
Ordered to report to substance abuse counseling, submit a DNA sample, pay for his blood test as well as court costs and probation fees.
As part of a plea agreement, charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person with a prior conviction for the same or a similar offense, a Level 6 felony; driving while suspended with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Class A misdemeanor; unsafe movement from lane to lane, a Class C infraction, and unsafe movement without signalling, a Class C infraction, were all dismissed.
On Feb. 25, 2021, at 7 p.m., while northbound on Main Street, an officer noticed a vehicle ahead of him traveling at a slow rate of speed. The officer noted that the vehicle had its right turn signal activated but instead merged into the left turn lane.
The officer pulled the vehicle over after it turned into the parking lot of a motel.
The officer reported Souter smelled of alcohol, appeared intoxicated and failed two of three field sobriety tests. He allegedly blew a .265 percent alcohol concentration equivalency on a Breathalyzer test, more than three times Indiana’s legal limit for intoxication of .08 percent.
———
Courtney Ann Goodwin, 25, rural Pennville, pleaded guilty to public intoxication, a Class B misdemeanor.
Sentenced to 180 days in the Wells County Jail, with all but 20 days suspended — credited as time served, and placed on probation for 345 days.
Ordered to pay court costs and probation fees.
Goodwin and a male companion, Mitchelle Herrick, 31, Bluffton, left the Airplane Express convenience store April 29 and started walking south on Main Street. Bluffton police received a report that the two might be intoxicated.
Two police officers set up on the south side of the Main Street Wabash River bridge and started walking north.
Goodwin and Herrick then reportedly crossed to the other side of Main Street, causing a box truck driver to have to slam on the brakes of the truck to avoid striking the couple. The officers followed suit and drove to the opposite side of the bridge. Herrick then reportedly attempted to cross back across the bridge but sat down partially in one of the driving lanes of southbound traffic, bringing traffic to a halt.
Reportedly neither Goodwin nor Herrick were very cooperative with police officers.
Goodwin blew a .052 percent alcohol concentration on a certified breath test taken at the Wells County Jail.
Herrick is awaiting trial and has a status conference set for May 13.
———
Ryan Loy Fisel, 44, Fort Wayne, violated probation by testing positive for marijuana.
Ordered to serve 30 days in the Wells County Jail.
Fisel was originally sentenced March 16 on charges of operating a vehicle as an habitual traffic violator with an habitual offender enhancement.
———
Kasie Michelle New, 33, Indianapolis, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a syringe, a Level 6 felony.
Sentenced to 180 days in prison. Credited for 92 days spent incarcerated awaiting disposition of her case.
Ordered to pay court costs of $185.
Christopher Matthew Bridges, 36, Indianapolis, brought New to the Praxis substance abuse rehabilitation facility on West Lancaster Street around midnight Jan. 6. Apparently it was too late to check her in, so they went north on Main Street to the Comfort Inn and Suites to try and find a room for the night.
However, as they were driving north on Main Street, a sheriff’s deputy decided to run the license plate on the back of the Chevrolet Suburban Bridges was driving and discovered the plate actually belonged on a Chevrolet HHR. He pulled the vehicle over in the parking lot of the motel.
There the deputy reported discovering that Bridges had a suspended driver’s license and no insurance for the vehicle he was driving. Bridges allegedly gave consent to have the vehicle searched and during the search, a deputy reportedly located a hypodermic syringe in a small bag that New eventually admitted belonged to her.
———
Rhianna S. Lothamer, 25, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a hypodermic syringe, a Level 6 felony, and in a separate sentence, to theft, a Class A misdemeanor.
Sentenced to 547 days in prison on the syringe possession charge and 150 days in the Wells County Jail on the theft charge. The sentences are to be served consecutively with each other. The 547-day sentence was then suspended, leaving the 150-day sentence to be served, however that sentence was credited as time served.
She was placed on probation for 547 days, ordered to report to a substance abuse counseling program, submit a DNA sample and pay court costs, probation fees and $49.58 in restitution to Walmart Stores East.
On Sept. 5, 2021, Bluffton police received a report from the Bluffton Walmart Supercenter that a woman had left the store without paying for a Nerf gun, General Tso chicken and a Hoverstar toy totaling $49.58 in value. A license plate number for the vehicle the woman reportedly got into in the parking lot of the store was captured by the store’s video surveillance. Bluffton police were able to track the plate to Lothamer.
The investigating officer also observed that in the in-store video the woman who was believed to be responsible for the theft had a unique tattoo of a molecule on her right forearm.
The officer contacted Lothamer who agreed to an interview. During the interview, the officer observed that Lothamer’s general appearance matched that of the woman in the video and that Lothamer had a unique tattoo of a molecule on her right forearm. He remarked about it to her. Lothamer reportedly admitted to the officer that the tattoo was one of a THC molecule.
In her defense, Lothamer reportedly told the deputy that some of the items failed to scan and that she was willing to pay for them.
On Feb. 24, the same Bluffton police officer who had initially interviewed Lothamer about the Walmart theft, saw her at the Airplane Express convenience store in Bluffton. Lothamer reportedly asked the officer about diesel fuel as she was driving a diesel powered Ford F-350 pickup truck. The officer knew Lothamer had a warrant out for her arrest in connection with theft, but momentarily could not recall her name before she drove away from the gas station. Shortly after the pickup truck left the gas station, the officer followed.
He then remembered her name and confirmed the existence of the warrant. He pulled the pickup truck over on Ind. 116 near North Matthews Street in Murray.
After placing Lothamer under arrest on the warrant, the officer performed a vehicle inventory on the pickup truck prior to it being towed. In the process, the officer found two hypodermic syringes in a door pocket of the truck along with other paraphernalia typically used in the process of ingesting illegal substances.
———
Keaton Dale Detrow, 21, Fort Wayne, pleaded guilty to domestic battery committed in the presence of a child less than 16 years old.
Sentenced to a year in prison, with all but six days suspended — credited as time served, and placed on probation for 359 days.
The term of the sentence is to be served consecutively with a 120-day home detention meted by the court for Detrow’s violation of probation from a Feb. 14, 2022 sentencing for possession of a Schedule I, II, III, or IV controlled substance, a Class A misdemeanor.
Ordered to submit a DNA sample, report to batterer intervention counseling, pay court costs and probation fees.
As part of a plea agreement, one count of domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor.
Detrow was charged with striking a woman in the mouth while she was holding their child in-common at the residence they shared in the 300 block of West Mill Street, Ossian, Feb. 27. An argument reportedly had started between the two over Detrow’s video game playing.
———
Two-day jury trial confirmed to commence at 8:30 a.m. June 28 for Troy J. Shake, 37, rural Huntington, charged with domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor.
———
Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Earl W. Quinn, 51, Bluffton, charged with strangulation, domestic battery with a prior conviction for the same offense, and domestic battery committed in the presence of a child less than 16 years old, all Level 6 felonies. Bond continued at $7,500 surety only. Allison Sprunger appointed public defender.
Quinn is charged with battering a woman and her teenage son at the apartment they all shared at Pine Grove apartments May 8.
———
Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Xavier Shuman, 18, rural Bluffton, charged with possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor. Bond continued at $1,500. Larry Mock appointed public defender.
Bluffton police and sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a fight between a girl and a boy outside of a residence on 250N west of Inc. 1 May 7.
Reportedly Shuman was the boy. They had reportedly been involved in a relationship, had broken up and the female had placed Shuman’s belongings outside of the residence.
Among the belongings, the investigating officer wrote in his report to the court, was a bong lying out in plain sight. The officer sought and received permission to search the bags of belongings and allegedly found a second bong, two grinders containing a green leafy substance with the odor and appearance of marijuana, and one small container containing a waxy substance that appeared to be THC wax. THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
Wells Circuit Court
Criminal Cases
Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Skyler D. Patterson, 27, Fort Wayne, charged with two counts of battery resulting in bodily injury, both Class A misdemeanors. Bond continued at $3,000. Law office of Sprunger and Sprunger appointed public defender.
Patterson is alleged to have attacked another inmate at the Wells County Jail April 28 out of anger over the other inmate “stitching” on him — an apparent reference that the other inmate had cooperated with law enforcement in a way that resulted in the arrest of Patterson on the charges that led to incarceration at the jail.
Bridges pleaded guilty March 4 to driving while suspended with a prior conviction for the same offense and was sentenced to six days in the Wells County Jail.
