Wells Superior Court
Criminal Cases
Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Dylan Ryan Thrash, 23, Muncie, charged with dealing in marijuana, a Class A misdemeanor; possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor. He was released on his own recognizance. Allison Sprunger appointed pauper counsel.
While patrolling south on Ind. 1 near 750S July 1, an Indiana State Police trooper spotted a vehicle pulled off to the side of the road with its hazard lights activated. The trooper pulled in behind it and ascertained from the driver that the GMC sport utility vehicle had run out of gasoline.
The trooper wrote in his report to the court that the driver appeared unusually nervous and offered the trooper consent to search the vehicle, even though the trooper had not asked for it. That, the trooper observed, made him even more suspicious that something was wrong. The driver then appeared to be trying to distance himself from the scene, so the trooper requested and received backup.
The trooper further observed in his report that the two passengers with the vehicle at the time — one of whom was Thrash — appeared to be intoxicated on an illegal substance.
After separating the driver from the passengers, the driver allegedly told the trooper that Thrash had marijuana for sale and was trying to sell it to him. The driver allegedly told the trooper he wasn’t interested in buying the marijuana but was taking Thrash to Bluffton to sell it.
Thrash allegedly freely admitted to the trooper that he was in possession of marijuana and reportedly pulled it out of his shorts and handed it to the trooper.
A search of the vehicle also allegedly turned up two glass pipes and a small scale. Also allegedly found in the vehicle were several pieces of tin foil which the driver admitted were used for cooking “boy” a slang term for heroin.
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Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Taylor Rose McClelland, 21, Bluffton, charged with failure to remain at the scene of an accident wherein the defendant stops following the accident but then leaves before the arrival of law enforcement, a Class B misdemeanor. Bond continued at $1,000. Jeffrey Stineburg appointed public defender.
Bluffton police responded to a property damage rear-end-style crash between two vehicles at the intersection of Main Street and Wabash Street June 13
Before officers arrived, the second vehicle had left, but was located nearby at the Wells County Courthouse.
The driver of that vehicle, identified as McClelland, reportedly was angry that the driver of the vehicle that she reportedly hit from behind had stopped at a red light. She reportedly believed he should have continued through the red light without stopping since he was making a right turn.
At that intersection lanes of traffic are required to stop when the light is red.
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Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Lindsey Lee, 25, Bluffton, charged with possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor. Bond continued at $5,500. Allison Sprunger appointed public defender.
While placing a probationer under arrest June 14, the Wells County Probation Department requested that officers go to the probationer’s apartment on Johnson Street and search it for illegal substances. At that point, the probationer reportedly told the officers that his girlfriend — Lee — had a bag at the apartment. Officers accompanied Lee to the apartment, she let them inside and the officers reportedly spotted the bag right away as it was pointed out to them by Lee, who reportedly claimed ownership of the bag. They requested consent to search it, she denied them that consent. They searched the apartment and found no drugs. They then looked inside the opening of the bag in an effort to determine its owner and reportedly spotted a small jewelers bag under some men’s underwear. They then requested a search warrant for the bag and allegedly located a small jeweler’s bag that contained a crystalline substance believed to be methamphetamine.
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Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Kevin Richard Holman, 45, Fort Wayne, charged with operating a motor vehicle while never having been issued a driver’s license, a Class A misdemeanor, and driving while suspended, a Class A infraction. Released on his own recognizance.
On June 25, a sheriff’s deputy drove his patrol car into the parking lot of the Ossian All American Deli parking lot and decided to perform a license plate check on a 2012 Chrysler 300 he saw parked in the lot. The car’s registration returned to Holman, who the deputy observed in his report to the court, had a suspended driver’s license.
The deputy waited until Holman left the parking lot and followed the Chrysler north on Jefferson Street, pulling it over at the intersection of Jefferson and Bittersweet Lane. After further investigation, the deputy determined that Holman not only had a suspended driver’s license, he had never even been issued a driver’s license.
Reportedly Holman told the deputy he was just trying to get to work and at that time had no other way to get there other than to drive himself.
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Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Zachary Ross Gaskill, 38, Bluffton, charged with domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor. Bond continued at $25,000.
Gaskill is charged with battering a female —including fracturing a bone in her right foot — while trying to take her cell phone from her June 24.
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Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Faylynn Stein, 20, Ossian, charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, a Class A misdemeanor; operating a vehicle with a Schedule I or II controlled substance or its metabolite in her body, a Class C misdemeanor; knowingly or intentionally operating a motor vehicle without ever having received a driver’s license, a Class C misdemeanor; failure to provide vehicle registration, a Class C infraction; and improper headlights, a Class C infraction. Bond continued at $2,500. Jeffrey Stineburg appointed public defender.
At 1:47 a.m. June 24, a Bluffton police officer spotted a vehicle northbound on Main Street near Dustman Road with no headlights on and pulled it over.
The officer observed in his report that there were three children — ages 13, 14, and 11, in the car with Stein who was the driver. She informed the officer that she was taking the children home to their aunt in Ossian. She also allegedly admitted to the officer that she had smoked marijuana about two hours earlier.
Stein reportedly failed field sobriety tests but blew a zero breath alcohol concentration on a Breathalyzer test.
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Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Douglas R. Painter, 56, Bluffton, charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, a Class A misdemeanor; driving while suspended, a Class A infraction; and driving left of center, a Class C infraction. Larry Mock appointed public defender.
While patrolling 450E south of U.S. 224 June 24, a sheriff’s deputy observed a vehicle ahead of him weaving across the center line of the road several times. The deputy pulled the vehicle over near 500N.
The deputy observed in jis report to the court that Painter appeared intoxicated, and failed field sobriety tests. However he blew a zero on a Breathalyzer test. Painter reportedly declined to take a SoToxa Oral Fluid test which tests for the presence of illegal substances. He was taken to Bluffton Regional Medical center for a blood draw and was placed under arrest.
