Wells Superior Court
Criminal Cases
James DW Morris, 35, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor.
Sentenced to 180 days in the Wells County Jail, with all but two days suspended — credited as time served, and placed on probation for 363 days.
Ordered to report to a batterer intervention program,. His probation may terminate early upon his completion of the program. Ordered to pay court costs and probation fees.
One count of domestic battery committed in the presence of a child, a Level 6 felony, was dismissed.
Morris was charged with battering a female at the Bluffton residence they shared in an argument over child custody June 17, 2022.
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Terry Smith Jr., 33, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle with a Schedule I or II controlled substance or its metabolite in his body, a Class C misdemeanor.
Ordered to pay a $200 Countermeasures fee and court costs of $185.50.
As part of a plea agreement, charges of possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor; driving while suspended, a Class A infraction; and failure to signal lane change or turn, a Class C infraction, were all dismissed.
On Nov. 9, 2020, while on patrol a sheriff’s deputy spotted a vehicle ahead of him fail to signal a turn from 100E to 100N. He pulled the vehicle over.
During the course of speaking with Smith, the deputy discovered that Smith had a suspended driver’s license. Smith reportedly admitted to the deputy he was in possession of marijuana and handed the deputy a pack of cigarettes that contained two hand-rolled marijuana cigarettes. Smith admitted to having smoked marijuana earlier in the day, although he passed field sobriety tests.
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Zackery Allen McDowell, 27, Bluffton, violated probation by being arrested in Bartholomew County for failing to register as a sex offender; by using alcohol Sept. 28, 2022, and alcohol and THC — the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana — Oct. 11, 2022; testing positive for alcohol use Nov. 12, 2022; using cocaine and alcohol Dec. 13; and failing to comply with the counseling requirement of his sentence.
Ordered to serve 120 days in the Wells County Jail. Upon completion of his term of incarceration, his probation will terminate as unsuccessful.
McDowell was originally sentenced Nov. 29, 2021, on one count of failure of a sex or violent offender to possess identification, a Level 6 felony.
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Contract to withhold prosecution/pre-trial diversion entered for Tammara S. Slater, 44, Bluffton, charged with driving while suspended with a prior conviction for the same offense, 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; and 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.
The duration of the contract is 12 months. If Slater successfully completes the terms of the contract, the charges against her will be dismissed.
Ordered to successfully complete a driver improvement program and pay court costs and user’s fees.
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.
Note this Slater is not Tammy Slater, the chief executive officer of the Wells County Foundation.
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Dane Jonathon Miller, 39, New Haven, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a hypodermic syringe, a Level 6 felony.
Sentenced to 547 days in prison. The sentence is to be served consecutively with a 547-day term for his plea of guilty in a separate case to possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony.
While the aggregate term is 1,094 days, he was credited for 376 days spent in confinement awaiting disposition of his case.
Assessed court costs of $185 in each of the cases.
As part of a plea agreement, two counts of possession of a narcotic drug, both Level 6 felonies, were dismissed.
A passerby became concerned about the welfare of Miller after witnessing him walking north on Ind. 1 at 1:25 a.m. Jan. 21, 2022. The temperature was just 15 degrees at the time.
A deputy located Miller near 400N. Miller said he was walking home to New Haven. The deputy agreed to give him a ride but explained he needed to pat him down first.
During the pat down, the deputy discovered a cylindrical object meant to hold candy, but inside the cylinder the deputy found a small plastic bag containing a white powdery substance that appeared to be methamphetamine. Underneath that was a small plastic bag containing two Oxycodone pills, a prescription pain killer for which Miller reportedly did not have a prescription.
When Miller was being booked into the Wells County Jail, jailers reportedly discovered a small container with a pill labeled for acetaminophen and oxycodone, a prescription painkiller for which Miller reportedly did not have a prescription.
The deputy also noted in his report that Miller had an abscess on his arm which Miller claimed to the deputy came from an infection that developed from “shooting methamphetamine.”
Next, at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 4, 2022, Bluffton police, Bluffton Fire Department first responders and Wells County EMS were dispatched to the Airplane Express convenience store, 407 N. Main St., on a report of an unresponsive man in a men’s room stall.
Miller was the man.
He was issued the anti-opiate Narcan and came around. A hypodermic syringe was found by an officer in Miller’s pocket.
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Reginald Lenor Freeman, 59, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, a Level 6 felony.
Sentenced to 545 days in prison. Credited for 114 days spent in confinement awaiting disposition of his case.
Ordered to pay $185 in court costs.
As part of a plea agreement, one count of possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor.
For violating probation from an Aug. 12, 2021, conviction for operating a motor vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalency of .08 percent or more with a prior conviction for the same offense, Freeman was ordered to serve an additional 545 days in prison. For that violation he received zero jail time credit.
Wells County Probation, with the assistance of the Bluffton Police Department, searched Freeman’s Morgan Street residence Dec. 21, 2022, and discovered marijuana in a kitchen cabinet and a white powdery substance on a TV stand in Freeman’s bedroom that was purported to be cocaine.
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Contract to withhold prosecution/pre-trial diversion entered for Nico Lapree Baker, 34, Fort Wayne, charged with knowingly or intentionally operating a motor vehicle while never having received a driver’s license, a Class C misdemeanor; driving while suspended, a Class A infraction; and no or improper taillights and or license plate light, a Class C infraction.
The duration of the contract is 12 months. If Lapree follows the rules of the contract, the charges against him will be dismissed.
Ordered to take all steps necessary with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles to obtain a valid driver’s license and play costs and fees.
At 4:37 a.m. Feb. 16, a sheriff’s deputy was patrolling west on Lancaster Street at Adams Street when he spotted a black Dodge Charger with no visible taillights. He pulled the vehicle over near the intersection of 100E and 100N.
The driver, identified as Lapree, reportedly did not know how to turn on the lights of the vehicle until a deputy pointed out a knob on the Charger’s dashboard that controlled the vehicle’s headlights.
During conversation with the deputy, Lapree admitted he had never been issued a driver’s license.
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Amanda Day Taylor, 42, Ossian, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor; and operating a vehicle with a Schedule I or II controlled substance or its metabolite in her body, a Class C misdemeanor.
Sentenced to 180 days in the Wells County Jail on the Class B misdemeanor, and 60 days in jail on the Class C misdemeanor. All but four days of each sentence were suspended and those days were credited as time served. Placed on probation for 361 days.
Ordered to undergo substance abuse evaluation, pay a $200 drug interdiction fee, pay all costs associated with her drug test, court costs and probation fees.
Driver’s license suspended for 30 days.
As part of a plea agreement, one count of no or improper taillights and/or license plate light was dismissed.
While monitoring traffic at the intersection of Jefferson Street and Davis Road in Ossian at 6:50 p.m. Feb. 14, a sheriff’s deputy observed a 2014 Dodge turn east onto Davis Road from Jefferson Street. The vehicle did not have a working license plate light. He pulled it over.
The deputy observed in his report that while he was speaking with Taylor he could smell a strong odor of burned marijuana emanating from the interior of the vehicle. Taylor reportedly admitted she had vaped a THC cartridge before leaving work about 50 minutes earlier.
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Ronald Lee Furry, 65, Carmel, was found guilty in a trial by jury of two counts of battery, both Class A misdemeanors.
Sentenced to two concurrent terms of one year in the Wells County Jail. All but 60 days of the sentence was suspended and Furry was granted credited for four days spent in confinement awaiting disposition of his case. Ordered to serve 305 days of probation.
Ordered to have no contact with his victims and pay court costs and probation fees.
Bluffton police responded to an Arrowhead Trail residence Dec. 12, 2022, on a report that Furry had battered a man and the man’s wife. When officers arrived, the man and wife were reportedly attempting to restrain Furry. He was taken into custody. Reportedly at the time of his arrest, Furry’s alcohol concentration equivalency was .246 percent, or more than three times Indiana’s legal limit for intoxication of .08 percent.
Infractions
Ow Wi Ka Ra Ni, 21, Fort Wayne; driving while suspended, Main Street at Commerce Drive.
Civil Cases
Marriage of Karen Almeida Kemodle and Dennis James Almeida dissolved.
Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles ordered to issue a title for a 2015 Polaris 850 Sportsman All-Terrain vehicle to Matthew Jon Liby, rural Bluffton.
Writ of possession granted to Premier Flats apartments against tenant Edwin Wheeler.
Judgment and writ of possession granted to BCG Capital, Bluffton, against Apollo Coon, Bluffton.
Complaints for possession and for non-payment of rent filed by Premier Flats, Bluffton, against tenants: Summer Tierney; Joshua Suarez and Corey Lechleidner; Heather Salmon; and Dillon Hurlbut. Amounts of rent owed to be determined.
Complaint for payment of $1,275.94 filed by LVNV Funding, Greenville, S.C., against William J. Zirkelbach, Bluffton.
Complaint for payment of $1,199.73 filed by the Law Office of Tracey Rosswurm LLC, Fort Wayne, against Troy Snider, rural Ossian.
Complaints for payment filed by AAA Acceptance Corp., Fort Wayne, against Kristy Rudd, rural Markle, $1,169.53; Taylor Clouse, rural Bluffton, $3,122.83; Rhonda Wiles, Marion, $4,623.83; Hunter Shatto, Montpelier, $2,376.83; Jacob Patterson, Fort Wayne, $7,461.85; Jerrick Umminger, Hartford City, $1,613.83; Jessica and Daniel Bratcher, Indianapolis, $817.83; Jaime Cooper, Fort Wayne, $3,232.83; Nicholas Carpenter, Fort Wayne, $5,335.83.
Complaint for payment filed by Don Myers Plumbing & Heating, rural Berne, against: Heather Hale, Bluffton, $6,117.10; Kyle Burch, rural Keystone, $80.
Complaint for possession and for non-payment of rent filed by Skyline Village Apartments, Markle, against tenant Tony Nunley.
Complaints for payment filed by Snow & Sauerteig, Fort Wayne, against: Emileigh Huntley, Bluffton, $1,287.78; Brennen A. Smallman, Bluffton, $1,180.82; Christopher Kleber, Ossian, $6,534.34; Stacy M. Stookey, rural Keystone, $1,085.66.
Complaint for payment filed by Midland Credit Management Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich., against Stephanie Hershberger, rural Ossian, $1,767.84.
Wells Circuit Court
Civil Cases
Complaint for payment of $12,765.74 filed by Mariner Finance LLC, Fort Wayne, against Christopher Prater and Velma Prater, Bluffton.
Marriage Licenses
Bailey Jo Highlen, 25, Ossian, and Grant Nicholas Anders, 25, Ossian.
Nicole Louise McGill, 37, rural Bluffton, and Cullen Donald Boatwright, 37, rural Bluffton.
Seth Riley Ayres, 32, Bluffton, and Suzette Sheri Hamilton, 30, Bluffton.
