Wells Superior Court
Criminal Cases
Samuel Mack McDonald, 22, Andrews, pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalency of .15 percent or more with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Level 6 felony.
Sentenced to 547 days in prison, with all but 10 days suspended, and placed on probation for 537 days. Credited for eight days spent in confinement awaiting disposition of his case.
Ordered to serve 180 days of home detention, complete a substance abuse treatment program, pay the costs associated with his blood test, a $200 Countermeasures fee, 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; and open alcoholic beverage container during operation of a motor vehicle, a Class C infraction, were dismissed.
Wells County Sheriff’s deputies received a report March 11 that an eastbound vehicle had exited Markle on U.S. 224 and the vehicle was driving erratically. The vehicle then reportedly drove off the road near 500W and became stuck in the ditch.
Deputies responded and located the stuck Honda Civic with MacDonald reportedly in the driver’s seat slumped over the steering wheel. The Civic was still in gear — reverse — and locked because it was in gear. A deputy knocked loudly on the driver’s side window, but received no response from the driver. Fearing that the driver might be suffering from a medical emergency that could also possibly pose harm to others since the car was in gear, a sheriff’s deputy broke the window, reached in and put the car in park and turned off the engine.
That woke up the driver — later identified as MacDonald.
The deputy observed in his report that MacDonald smelled of alcohol, appeared intoxicated and refused to take field sobriety tests.
A breath test taken at the Wells County Jail reportedly showed his alcohol concentration equivalency to be .202 percent or more than twice Indiana’s legal limit for intoxication of .08 percent.
MacDonald was also reportedly belligerent and verbally abusive to the deputies and to the nurse who took his blood at Bluffton Regional Medical Center.
MacDonald has a previous conviction in Huntington Superior Court Dec. 20, 2019, for operating a vehicle while intoxicated
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Sentencing set for 9:30 a.m. July 26 for Dillon Zent, 28, rural Keystone, who pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalency of .15 percent or more with a prior conviction, a Level 6 felony.
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Rodney James Yates, 31, Fort Wayne, violated probation by testing positive for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana; failing to complete his court-ordered counseling requirement; failing to pay financial obligations; being arrested in Allen County for driving while suspended; and failing to report to his probation officer.
Ordered to serve 180 days in the Wells County Jail. Credited for 36 days spent in confinement awaiting disposition of his case. Assessed a $50 probation user fee and a $50 drug testing fee.
Upon completion of his term of incarceration his probation will terminate.
Yates was originally sentenced June 25, 2019, on charges of possession of marijuana, a Class A misdemeanor; and operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor.
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Russell T. Wise, 29, Clyde, Ohio, violated probation by being arrested for theft in Fremont, Ohio; failing to report to his probation officer; failing to report to his probation officer that he had moved; testing positive for amphetamines, methamphetamine and fentanyl during a random drug test Sept. 21, 2021; failing to comply with the substance abuse counseling requirement; and failing to pay $585 in fees.
Ordered to serve 412 days in prison and assessed $200 in fees.
Upon completion of his sentence his probation will terminate.
Wise was originally sentenced July 24, 2020 on one count of possession of a narcotic drug, a Level 6 felony.
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Morgan Jo Sawyer, 28, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia both with prior convictions for the same offenses and both Class A misdemeanors.
Ordered to serve 60 days in the Wells County Jail on each of the charges with the sentences to be served concurrently. Credited for 10 days spent in confinement awaiting disposition of her case.
Assessed a $200 drug interdiction fee and $185 in court costs.
Sawyer was arrested following a search of the apartment where she was staying Nov. 9, 2021. The Wells County Probation Department requested the search after learning that a probationer who was also staying at the residence might be using drugs.
Methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana and prescription pain medications for which no one living at the address had a prescription were all reportedly found in the apartment.
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Breanna Brickley, 28, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to failure to return to lawful detention, a Level 6 felony.
Sentencing set for 8:30 a.m. July 19.
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Trey Allen O’Reilly, 22, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana, with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Class A misdemeanor.
Sentenced to a year in the Wells County Jail, with all but two days suspended — credited as time served, and placed on probation for 363 days.
Ordered to serve 60 days of home detention and pay court costs and probation fees.
Bluffton police responded to a Bluffton motel April 10 on a report of a smell of marijuana emanating from a room of the motel.
The officer observed that there was no odor outside of the room but when O’Reilly opened the door, reportedly a strong odor of burned marijuana emanated from the interior of the room.
Officers spoke with both O’Reilly and Robert Allan Caylor, 28, rural Montpelier, and after some questioning, they allegedly admitted to having some marijuana and had thrown it into the toilet bowl, In the bowl there was a marijuana cigarette that had been smoked.
Upon further questioning, O’Reilly allegedly admitted there was a plastic bag of marijuana also in a drawer and removed it from the drawer for the officer.
Caylor allegedly admitted that he had purchased “a little bit of weed to smoke with a friend before going into work.”
Caylor is awaiting trial on one count of possession of marijuana, a Class A misdemeanor.
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Anthony Tyron Layne, 45, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to two counts of invasion of privacy, both Class A misdemeanors, and invasion of privacy with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Level 6 felony.
Sentencing set for 8:30 a.m. July 8.
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Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Brook Leann Jupin, 45, Marion, charged with failure to appear in court, a level 6 felony. Bond continued at $5,000. Larry Mock appointed public defender.
Jupin was awaiting trial in Wells Superior Court on one count of theft, wherein the value of the property alleged stolen was greater than $750 but less than $50,000, a Level 6 felony, when she allegedly failed to appear for a status of counsel hearing May 2.
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Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Andres Pablo Lucas, 50, Enterprise, Ala., charged with knowingly or intentionally operating a motor vehicle without ever receiving a driver’s license, a Class C misdemeanor; and speeding, a Class C infraction. Released on his own recognizance. Larry Mock appointed public defender.
On June 6, a sheriff’s deputy was patrolling west on U.S. 224 west of 100E in a fully marked sheriff’s department patrol vehicle when a white Ford Truck blew around him at 74 mph in a 55 zone.
The deputy pulled the vehicle over on 100W in Uniondale.
The driver, identified as Lucas, reportedly did not have a license in possession. The only form of identification he had with him was a Guatemalan identification card.
He had a prior conviction in Alabama for operating a motor vehicle while never having been issued a driver’s license.
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Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Zolan Riverwind Wetzel, 21, Bluffton, charged with failure of a sex or violent offender to possess identification, a Class A misdemeanor. Bond continued at $1,500. Larry Mock appointed public defender.
On May 11, the Wells County Sheriff’s Department received a tip that Wetzel had moved from his registered address to a new address without reporting the change to the sex offender registrar.
A sheriff’s deputy went to the residence where the tipster said Wetzel was living but learned that Wetzel was not living there but spends a couple nights a week at the residence with his girlfriend.
The deputy then went to the Horton Street residence on Wetzel’s registration and knocked, but no one came to the door. Just as the deputy was about to leave, Wetzel reportedly was approaching on Horton Street and calling to the deputy. The deputy replied that he was performing a sex/violent offender registry check. Wetzel allegedly told the deputy he had been up the street at a convenience store to buy cigarettes, but had forgotten to take his identification with him.
Infractions
Judgment set aside and vacated for Daniel L. Shaw, 75, Fort Wayne, who had been charged with operating a motor vehicle with a fictitious license plate and operating a motor vehicle without insurance.
Civil Cases
Judgment of $3,684.52 entered for Premier Flats, Bluffton, against tenant April Nichole Grove.
Marriage of Tammy Whetstone and Steven Whetstone dissolved. Her former name of Dasher restored to her.
Marriage of Tosha M. Gallion and Andrew E. Gallion dissolved.
