Wells Superior Court
Criminal Cases
Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Colton Norris, 21, Bluffton, charged with criminal trespass, a Class A misdemeanor.
Norris and his sister both live at The Budget Inn motel, 1090 N. Main St. The sister has reportedly told Norris he is not welcome in her room. On Feb. 15, he allegedly walked into her room uninvited.
———
Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Elizabeth J. Haney, 58, rural Uniondale, charged with possession of a Schedule I, II, III, or IV controlled substance, a Class A misdemeanor, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor. Larry Mock appointed public defender.
Deputies, Uniondale Fire Department first responders and Wells County EMS were dispatched to Haney’s residence Feb. 9 for a medical emergency involving Haney.
Haney was reportedly incoherent and struggling with motor skills after deputies arrived. The investigating deputy noted in his report to the court that Haney appeared to be having an adverse reaction to “spice,” a synthetic form of marijuana that is considerably more potent than marijuana.
Haney’s husband reportedly handed the deputy a glass pipe which Haney had in her grasp prior to the arrival of emergency personnel. The pipe allegedly contained in its bowl a substance that had the odor and appearance of spice.
———
Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Zolan Riverwind Wetzel, 22, Bluffton, charged with failure to register as a sex or violent offender, a Level 6 felony. Patrick Miller appointed public defender.
Wetzel is charged with failing to complete his annual sex offender registry with the sex offender registrar by the deadline of Jan. 24, 2023.
———
Brian L. Shepherd, 41, Fort Wayne, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor.
Sentenced to 180 days in the Wells County Jail, all suspended, and placed on probation for one year.
Ordered to serve 60 days of home detention, pay a $200 drug interdiction fee, court costs and probation fees.
As part of a plea agreement, charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class B misdemeanor; violation of conditional driving privileges, a Class C misdemeanor; operating a motor vehicle without insurance, a Class A infraction; and operating a motor vehicle with an expired license plate, a Class C infraction, were all dismissed.
On Oct. 28, 2022, while patrolling North Main Street, a Bluffton police officer noticed that a Ford Mustang ahead of his had a license plate that had expired two weeks earlier. He pulled the Mustang over in the 600 block of North Main Street.
Upon speaking with the driver, identified as Shepherd, the officer learned he had conditional driving privileges. Shepherd reportedly told the officer that he was en route from Fort Wayne to Bluffton to see a girl — an act not listed in the conditions of his conditional driving privileges.
The officer also noticed that there was a heavy scent emitting from the vehicle that might be an attempt by Shepherd to cover the odor of something illegal. Shepherd allegedly admitted to a second officer on scene that there might be marijuana in the Mustang.
A search of the vehicle by officers reportedly resulted in the discovery of a “one hitter,” a slang term for a small pipe that contains just enough marijuana to permit one smoke. The device reportedly had a small of marijuana inside it.
———
Alejandro Luna, 23, Fort Wayne, 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 his body, a Class C misdemeanor.
Sentenced to 180 days in the Wells County Jail on the possession of marijuana charge and 60 days in the Wells County Jail on the controlled substance charge. All but two days of each of the sentences were suspended and he was credited for time served.
Placed on probation for 363 days.
Ordered to pay for the costs of his blood test, a $200 drug interdiction fee, court costs and probation fees.
Driver’s license suspended for 60 days.
As part of a plea agreement, charges of operating a motor vehicle while never having received a driver’s license with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Class A misdemeanor; possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor; speeding and no or improper license plate light and or taillights, both Class C infractions, were all dismissed.
Luna passed a Wells County deputy sheriff driving a fully-marked patrol vehicle on Ind. 1 north of 700N Dec. 5, 2022. The deputy reported he was driving 57 mph at the time and Luna was driving 65 mph when he passed the deputy.
Luna only had his work identification on him — no other form of identification. Luna admitted to the deputy he had never been issued a driver’s license in Indiana or any other state.
After placing Luna under arrest, a second deputy performed a vehicle inventory on the Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle Luna was driving and reported finding a quart-sized zip top plastic bag with a green, leafy plant material with the odor and appearance of raw marijuana inside, a THC oil cartridge, a burned marijuana cigarette, and two burned marijuana cigars.
Luna reportedly admitted to having smoked marijuana prior to going to work.
———
Upon paying of $200 in fees, probation will terminate unsuccessfully for Jacquan Aramis Bass, 29, Montpelier, who violated probation from a June 27, 2016, conviction for resisting law enforcement by use of a vehicle, a Level 6 felony.
———
Christopher J. Crocker Jr., 34, rural Huntington, pleaded guilty to driving while suspended with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Class A misdemeanor.
Sentenced to a year in the Wells County Jail, all suspended, and placed on probation for one year.
Ordered to serve 80 days in home detention, pay court costs and probation fees.
As part of a plea agreement, charges of operating a motor vehicle without insurance, a Class A infraction, and possession or display of a fictitious or altered driver’s license, a Class C infraction, were dismissed.
During the course of investigating a two-vehicle traffic crash at the intersection of Main and Wabash streets Sept. 5, 2022, a Bluffton police officer discovered that the driver of one of the vehicles was not who had originally been represented to be the driver.
The officer was originally told one of the vehicles was driven by a woman but the driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash said it was not the woman who was claiming to be the driver of the vehicle that had been involved in the accident but rather it was Crocker and that Crocker had switched seats with the woman who had claimed to be the driver after the collision occurred.
After questioning by the officer, Crocker reportedly admitted that he indeed had been the driver.
The officer then discovered that Crocker had several suspensions against his driver’s license, the most recent one meted in Huntington County Superior Court Sept. 9, 2020.
———
Sherry J. Thompson, 60, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to forgery, a Level 6 felony.
Sentenced to 548 days in prison, with all but eight days suspended — credited as time served — and placed on probation for 540 days.
Ordered to serve 90 days of home detention, submit a DNA sample, pay restitution in an amount to be determined to Walmart Stores East, court costs and probation fees.
As part of a plea agreement, eight other counts of forgery, all Level 6 felonies, were dismissed.
Thompson, a former employee at the Bluffton Walmart Supercenter, is charged with “ticket switching.” Ticket switching is when a store’s customer removes the universal price code symbol from an item and places it on a more expensive item in order to fool the UPC scanner into ringing up a more expensive item at a cheaper price.
Thompson is alleged to have begun the venture of ticket switching Sept. 30, 2022, when she allegedly swapped a ticket from a $36.98 Mini Satchel for a $16.94 Crossbody.
The activity allegedly continued through Oct. 17, 2022, when Thompson allegedly ticket switched a $4 ladies T-shirt with a $27.98 Plus Maxi. She reportedly had three Plus Maxis and scanned the $4 tag three times, giving her a nearly $70 discount.
In all, Thompson is believed to have cheated the store out of $261.85.
Thompson allegedly admitted to the ticket switching and reportedly told the investigating officer from the Bluffton Police Department that she was switching the tickets because she was short on money.
Other items that Thompson allegedly purchased through ticket switching were a Cozy Wrap, a Sunbeam heated blanket, a Dymo label maker, a Conair massage pad, a BHG underbed storage, a Great Value pack of toilet paper and a backpack.
———
Cassie M. Detamore, 35, Bluffton, pleaded guilty to harboring a non-immunized dog, a Class B misdemeanor.
Sentenced to 180 days in the Wells County Jail, with all but two days suspended, and placed on probation for 363 days. Probation may be terminated early at the discretion of the Wells County Probation Department.
Ordered to pay court costs and probation fees.
Officers responded to the 1200 block of Virginia Court Sept. 22 after a man reported that his neighbor’s dog, a Yorkshire/dachshund mix had run into his yard and bit him while he was mowing. The man reported the dog had bitten both him and his wife on previous occasions.
The investigating officer in the matter noted in his report that the dog’s owners had previously been cited for harboring a non-immunized dog.
———
Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Kaitlin M. Ohern, 29, Uniondale, charged with possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.
While assisting with a probationary search of O’Hern’s residence Feb. 27, sheriff’s deputies reportedly found a cylindrical container with a label that read “Holy Roller Consume Cannabis” that contained a green and brown leafy plant material with the odor and appearance of marijuana. They also allegedly found a glass and rubber smoking device.
———
Preliminary plea of not guilty entered for Jason A. Trudel, 37, Fort Wayne, charged with driving while suspended with a prior conviction for the same offense, a Class A misdemeanor; possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor; speeding, a Class C infraction, and littering, a Class B infraction. Cory Spreen appointed public defender.
At 1:33 a.m. on Oct. 3, 2019, on Ind. 116 near Vera Cruz, a sheriff’s deputy spotted an oncoming vehicle with its bright lights on. Instead of the driver dimming the headlights, he turned the lights off entirely before turning them back on. That made the deputy suspicious and he turned around his patrol vehicle and started following the Pontiac. He observed in his report to the court that while following the Pontiac, the digital speedometer of his patrol vehicle showed he was driving 68 mph-55 zone.
The deputy performed a license plate check on the vehicle and discovered it was registered to Trudel, who had a suspended driver’s license. The deputy continued to follow the Pontiac northwest on Ind. 116. Near the Six Mile Church, the driver reportedly tossed something from the vehicle.
The deputy pulled over the Pontiac. Trudel allegedly admitted to the deputy that he knew his driver’s license was suspended. When the deputy asked him what he threw out his driver’s side window, Trudel reportedly told the deputy it was a pack of cigarettes. The deputy asked him twice again during the course of his conversation with Trudel what Trudel had thrown out the window. Trudel reportedly insisted both times it was just a pack of cigarettes.
However, two Bluffton police officers who arrived to assist the deputy found the items near the church. They allegedly were not a pack of cigarettes as Trudel had claimed, but were reportedly a digital scales — typically used to weigh out portions of illegal substances — and a straw that would be used to ingest illegal substances.
Trudel allegedly admitted to the deputy he threw the items out the window because he knew his license was suspended and he knew he would be pulled over.
Civil Cases
Final judgment of $4,503.22 plus court costs of $115 entered for Total Recovery Services, Fort Wayne, against Cheryl S. Hall, rural Bluffton.
File Reports
Reports of receipts and expenditures of political committees have been filed with the Wells County Clerk’s office by:
• Wells County Democratic Committee, Bluffton.’For the period beginning Oct. 15 and ending Dec. 31, 2022, the committee showed $6,057.10 in cash on hand at the beginning of the reporting period, received $735 in itemized contributions and receipts, $57 in unitemized contributions and receipts, spent $1,962.03 in itemized expenditures, $28.71 in unitemized expenditures, and finished the reporting period with $4,858.36 in cash on hand.
The committee owed no debt.
Itemized contributions and receipts were from: Dylan McIntosh, Markle, $100; Brian and Melanie Hollingsworth, rural Bluffton, $300; John Bodner, Ossian, $150; Larry and Teresa Sell, Bluffton, $50; Sandra Shelly, Bluffton, $30; and Joy Hann, Bluffton, $105.
Itemized expenditures were to: AT&T, Carol Stream, Ill., $131.40 for internet; Northern Indiana Public Service Company, Merrillville, $166.07 for natural gas for the Democratic headquarters building; Bluffton Utilities, $270.62 for electricity for the headquarters; Walmart Supercenter of Bluffton, $139.81 for headquarters supplies; ActBlue, Somerville, Mass., $29.13 for fees; The Cincinnati Insurance Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, $976 for property insurance for the headquarters; United States Postal Service, $74 for post office box rental and postage; and Bodner Wells Democrat, Ossian, $175 for a campaign contribution.
• Wells County Republican Central Committee, Bluffton.
For the period beginning Oct. 15 and ending Dec. 31, the committee showed $42,135.53 in cash on hand at the beginning of the reporting period, $242.87 in itemized contributions and receipts, $1,177.32 in unitemized contributions and receipts, $4,250.17 in itemized expenditures, $415.52 in unitemized expenditures and finished the reporting period with $38,890.03 in cash on hand.
Itemized contributions were from: Brandon Harnish, $42.87; and Scott and Dayle Mentzer, Bluffton, $200.
Itemized expenditures were to: Northern Indiana Public Service Company, Merrillville, $316.17 for natural gas service to the headquarters; Yergy’s State Road BBQ, Bluffton, $380 for catering; Verizon Wireless, Lehigh Valley, Pa., $54.11 for utilities; Bluffton Utilities, $340.85 for electrical service to the headquarters building; Indiana Republican Party, Indianapolis, $1,000 for an event; Preston Wright, Bluffton, $352.68 as reimbursement; Auto Owners Insurance, Lansing, Mich., $986.50 for property insurance for the headquarters; Zach Rodgers, Ossian, $111.59 for reimbursement and Timber Ridge Catering, rural Bluffton, $735 for catering.
