Wells Superior Court
Criminal Cases
Jarrod W. Otis, 49, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalency of .08 percent or more, a Class A misdemeanor.
Sentenced to a year in the Wells County Jail, with all but 20 days suspended, and placed on probation for 342 days. Credited for six days spent incarcerated awaiting disposition of his case.
The term of the sentence is to be served consecutive to a two-year term in the Allen County Jail meted against Otis for violating probation from an Aug. 17, 2020, judgment in Allen Superior Court for strangulation, a Level 6 felony; domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor; and resisting law enforcement, a Class A misdemeanor.
Ordered to serve 100 days of home detention, pay the costs of his blood test as well as court costs and probation fees.
As part of a plea agreement, one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, a Class A misdemeanor, was dismissed.
Sheriff’s deputies and Wells County EMS responded to a report of a vehicle parked in the middle of 600E between 300N and 400N in a wooded area at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 23, 2021.
The caller, a farmer who could not get past the vehicle in his tractor and wagons, reported that he saw a man lying in the woods nearby (the road splits the woods in two). The tractor driver reported he could also plainly see a bottle of alcohol on the front passenger seat of the Hyundai as the driver’s side door of the car was open. The ignition to the car was on and the radio was playing.
When the investigating deputy approached the man lying in the woods, he discovered that he was not injured but was sleeping. The man, later identified as Otis, admitted to having been drinking. He also allegedly admitted that he had been driving the car down the road at the time. Otis reportedly told the deputy he thought he had been at the location for about a minute, although he was not sure how he ended up on 600E in the middle of the woods.
Allegedly he blew a .272 percent alcohol concentration on a Breathalyzer test. The legal limit for intoxication in Indiana is .08 percent.
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Karri Ann Davis, 34, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.
Sentenced to 180 days in the Wells County Jail on the marijuana possession charge and 60 days in the Wells County Jail on the paraphernalia possession charge. The terms of the sentences are to be served concurrently.
All but four days of each sentence were suspended and those four days were credited as time served. Placed on probation for 361 days.
Ordered to serve 90 days of home detention, pay a $200 Countermeasures fee, court costs and probation fees.
As part of a plea agreement, one count of driving while suspended with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Class A misdemeanor, was dismissed.
A child called the Bluffton Police Department Jan. 15 concerned about her mother — whom the child identified as Davis — because Davis and Davis’ young son were supposed to be sleeping in a vehicle at Roush Park.
An officer located the vehicle driving away from the Airplane Express convenience store and pulled it over.
During the course of speaking with Davis, the officer discovered that Davis had a suspended driver’s license with an indefinite reinstatement date. She also allegedly admitted that there was marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle. A search of the vehicle allegedly turned up a vaping pen containing a THC cartridge (THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana); a device identified by the officer as a crack pipe, a grinder, a device to roll cigarettes and a pick used to clean smoking devices.
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John Tilbury, 29, Ossian, pleaded guilty to battery, a Class B misdemeanor, and driving while suspended, a Class A misdemeanor.
Sentenced to 180 days in the Wells County Jail. In lieu of jail, Tilbury was placed on home detention for 150 days.
Placed on probation for 180 days. He was ordered to have no contact with his victim and pay court costs and probation fees. He was also fined $14.50 on the driving while suspended charge and assessed court costs of an additional $185.50.
While monitoring traffic June 9, 2021, an Ossian police officer noticed a sport utility vehicle pull into the parking lot of the liquor store next door and decided to perform a license plate check on the vehicle. The officer discovered the Chevrolet Blazer was registered to Tilbury and Tilbury had a suspended driver’s license.
Tilbury was also charged with inappropriately touching the right breast of a woman with whom he was acquainted at her Silo Farms mobile home Aug. 24, 2021.
Tilbury admitted to touching the woman but told the investigating sheriff’s deputy it was accidental.
