Wells Superior Court
Criminal Cases
Joshua Aron Case, 31, Greenfield, violate probation by testing positive for cannabinoids during a random drug test Nov. 17.
Ordered to serve 360 days in prison and pay $200 in fees. Credited for 56 days spent in confinement awaiting disposition of his case.
Case was originally sentenced May 20, 2021, on one count of failure to register as a sex or violent offender, a Level 6 felony.
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Charges of driving while suspended with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Class A misdemeanor, and 56 mph-45 zone, a Class C infraction, were both dismissed for Kyaw Moe Naing, 30, Fort Wayne.
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Jon Michael Hollingsworth, 60, listed as homeless, pleaded guilty to domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor, and possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor.
Sentenced to a year in the Wells County Jail on the domestic battery charge and 180 days in the Wells County Jail on the marijuana possession charge. The terms of the sentences are to be serve concurrently but consecutively to a 254-day term meted for pleading guilty to one count of invasion of privacy, a Class A misdemeanor, which was a separate case.
In the case involving the possession of marijuana and domestic battery, both of the sentences were suspended. In the case involving the invasion of privacy, Hollingsworth was credited for time served.
He was placed on probation for one year.
Ordered to serve 120 days of home detention, have no contact with his victim, pay court costs in each case of $185, and probation fees.
As part of a plea agreement, a second count of invasion of privacy, a Class A misdemeanor; criminal mischief, a Class B misdemeanor; battery, a Class B misdemeanor; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor, were dismissed.
On Sept. 6, 2022, Bluffton police responded to Hollingsworth’s residence on a report that he and a woman that he had been living with had been involved in a domestic altercation.
During the argument, Hollingsworth reportedly grabbed a second man at the home and shattered the glass in a cabinet inside the residence. He also reportedly admitted to the investigating officer that he had in the garage of the residence a “one-hitter,” the slang term for a device that allows a user to smoke a small portion of marijuana.
The woman also led officers to an area of the house where there was a small metal container with a green leafy plant material inside that had the odor and appearance of marijuana.
Following Hollingsworth’s arrest, a protective order was issued against him for the woman involved in the case. Hollingsworth then tried to relay information to the woman through her pastor on Oct. 9. That was in violation of the protective order.
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Contract to withhold prosecution/pre-trial diversion entered for Zachary Marshal Bowlin, 37, Bluffton, charged with driving while suspended with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Class A misdemeanor, and no or improper turn signals, a Class C infraction.
The duration of the contact is one year. If he follows the rules set for his case by the Wells County Probation Department during that period, the charges against him will be dismissed.
Ordered to pay users’ fees and court costs, successfully complete a driver improvement program, and take all necessary steps to have his driver’s license restored.
A sheriff’s deputy was patrolling south on Williams Street near Market Street Jan. 10 when he spotted a 2006 Buick turn eastbound onto Market Street without signalling.
The deputy started to follow the vehicle and pulled it over on Johnson Street near Walnut Street.
Bowlin reportedly readily told the deputy he had a suspended driver’s license and, during the course of the investigation, the deputy discovered that Bowling had a prior conviction in Adams Superior Court Aug. 27, 2014, for driving while suspended.
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Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Tammara S. Slater, 44, Bluffton, charged with driving while suspended with a prior conviction, a Class A misdemeanor; possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor; possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor; operating a motor vehicle without insurance, a Class A infraction; operating a motor vehicle with a fictitious license plate, operating a motor vehicle with an expired license plate and failure to change name or address on driver’s license, all Class C infractions. Larry Mock appointed public defender.
While patrolling Wabash Street Jan. 11, a Bluffton police officer decided to check on a license plate on a 2014 Ford Fusion ahead of her patrol car and discovered that the plate actually belonged on a 2000 Mitsubishi Gallant.
After pulling the vehicle over and speaking with Slater, the officer discovered that the only proof of insurance that Slater had for the vehicle had expired in 2021. The officer also discovered that Slater’s driver’s license was indefinitely suspended for failing to file insurance, failing to comply and failing to pay.
The officer then discovered that Slater reportedly had failed to change the address on her driver’s license.
Slater was placed into custody and taken to the Wells County Jail. As she was being booked in, jail staff allegedly found in Slater’s purse a black smoking bowl containing a burned leafy substance with the odor and appearance of marijuana and a bottle containing “shake,” a slang term for crumbs of marijuana.
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One count of knowingly or intentionally operating a motor vehicle without ever having received a driver’s license, a Class C misdemeanor, was dismissed for Stephen Christopher Rice Jr., 48, Fort Wayne.
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Rita Ann Bollenbacher, 50, Berne, violated probation by being arrested in Adams County on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Level 6 felony; operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, a Class A misdemeanor; violation of an ignition interlock order, a Class A misdemeanor; and violation of driving conditions, a Class C misdemeanor; and for failing a drug screen by testing positive for alcohol July 10, 2022 — testing .223 percent alcohol concentration equivalency on a portable Breathalyzer test.
Ordered to serve 42 days in prison, credited as time served.
Bollenbacher was originally sentenced March 4, 2022, on one count of 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.
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Kurt Thomas Andrews, 39, Huntertown, pleaded guilty to theft, a Class A misdemeanor.
Sentenced to a year in the Wells County Jail, with all but two days suspended, and placed on probation for 363 days.
Ordered to pay $806 in restitution to the Bluffton Lowe’s Home Improvement Inc., court costs and probation fees.
As part of a plea agreement, second count of theft, a Class A misdemeanor, was dismissed.
On Nov. 28, 2017, Andrews walked into the Bluffton Lowe’s Home Improvement, walked straight to the tool section and selected a DeWalt 5-piece cordless tool set from the shelf, walked out the store, ran to a waiting black Ford Taurus with a female driver and the vehicle sped away.
Then, on April 20, 2018, Andrews again reportedly entered the Bluffton Lowe’s Home Improvement store and placed a DeWalt power tool combination kit valued at $369 into a cart and immediately left the store. He cut the anti-theft device from the box and ran to a white Buick LeSabre and drove away.
The entire event was captured on the store’s video surveillance system and was also witnessed by employees. Moreover, the Lowe’s loss prevention officer reportedly recognized Andrews from previous Lowe’s thefts.
At the time of the thefts, Thomas also had an outstanding warrant for theft out of Fort Wayne and had a prior conviction for the theft out of Williams County, Ohio.
Infractions
Lynford V. Ramer Jr., 39, Fort Wayne, entered into an infraction deferral agreement. Ordered to pay $70 in court costs, a $52 initial user’s fee, $120 ($10 a month for 12 months) and $10.50 in an administration fee. Ramer was cited for driving while suspended, a Class A infraction.
File Reports
Reports of receipts and expenditures of political committees have been filed with the Wells County Clerk’s office by:
• Chandler Gerber for Bluffton, Chandler Todd Gerber, Bluffton, Republican for Bluffton Common Council District 1.
For the period beginning Jan. 1 and ending Dec. 31, the committee showed no cash on hand at the beginning of the reporting period, $5,381.09 in itemized expenditures, $415 in unitemized expenditures, $1,422.67 in itemized expenditures, no unitemized expenditures and ended the reporting period with $4,373.42 in cash on hand.
The committee owed no debt.
Itemized contributions were received from: David Muselman, Indianapolis, $250; Lane Gerber, Bluffton, $250; Brad Zimmer, Bluffton, $100; Adam Neuenschwander, rural Bluffton, $100; Preston Kaehr, rural Bluffton, $100; Nick Fiechter, address not listed, $100; Chandler Gerber, Bluffton, $1,381.09; Michael Vanover, rural Keystone, $500; Todd and Michelle Gerber, Bluffton, $250; Brandon Harnish, Bluffton, $250; RTT Investments LLC, Fort Wayne, $1,000; Kreukeberg Auction and Realty, Decatur, $1,000; Cupp Real Estate, Bluffton, $100.
Itemized expenditures were to the candidate himself, $1,381.09 and to WinRed.com, Arlington, Va., $41.58.
• R. Seth Whicker for County Coucil — Wells, Robert Seth Whicker, Uniondale, Republican for Wells County Council at Large.
For the period beginning Jan. 1 and ending Dec. 31, the committee showed $5,799.11 in cash on hand at the beginning of the reporting period, no itemized nor unitemized contributions or receipts, no expenditures itemized nor unitemized, and ended the reporting period with $5,799.11 in cash on hand.
The campaign owes $6,000 in debt to the candidate himself.
• Kelly Herman for Assessor, Kelly Herman, rural Ossian, Republican for Wells County Assessor.
For the period beginning Aug. 15 and ending Dec. 31, the committee showed no cash on hand at the beginning of the reporting period, no itemized nor unitemized contributions or receipts and no expenditures. The committee ended the reporting period with no cash on hand and owing no debt.
