Two men get 5-plus years in drug verdicts

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Two men from Greene and Fairfield counties will be spending an additional five and-a-half years in prison after sentencing this week in Highland County Common Pleas Court on drug charges.

Nathan Taulbee, 42, Xenia, received a prison sentence of two years that will run consecutive with the three years he is currently serving from a felony drug conviction earlier this year in Fayette County Common Pleas Court in Washington C.H.

Court records show that Taulbee pled guilty on Aug. 23, 2019 to one count of aggravated possession of methamphetamine, a second-degree felony, stemming from an incident that occurred nearly one year earlier when he was pulled over by a state patrol trooper after driving 94 mph on a motorcycle.

The July 10, 2019, a bill of particulars states that while in the back seat of the cruiser on Aug. 31, 2018, Taulbee confessed to possession of marijuana, and after a probable cause search was made of the motorcycle, three small containers of what was later tested to be methamphetamine were found.

Fayette County court records show that he faced a three-count indictment on trafficking and drug possession charges on Sept. 7, 2018 for an incident that happened on July 29 of the same year.

He was given three days credit for time already served in the Highland County Jail.

Seth Smith, 39, Lancaster, entered a guilty plea to one count of aggravated possession of methamphetamine, a third-degree felony, and was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment to be served consecutively with the 18-months he is currently serving on twin counts of receiving stolen property following his conviction in Fayette County Common Pleas Court on April 9, 2019.

Additionally, Smith’s judgment entry of confinement showed that he is facing 766 days of further prison time since at the time of the offence, he was under post-release control.

Smith’s problems in Highland County come from an Oct. 5, 2018 incident, as described in the bill of particulars, when he was discovered under the influence while in the waiting area of the Community Market pharmacy in Greenfield, where a police officer searched a bag belonging to him and Billie Willett.

A small bag was discovered inside the bag contained a crystalline substance that was later determined to be methamphetamine.

At his sentencing on Aug. 23, he received a credit of 16 days for jail time already served.

David Swisshelm, 39, Hillsboro, Joshua Knisley, 45, Greenfield, and Bruce Adams, 42, Lynchburg, all received sentences of three years community control under the authority of the Adult Probation Department of the Adult Parole Authority, according to court records.

Swisshelm was convicted of aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, and was ordered to follow a substance abuse treatment program as recommended by the Cornerstone Project, a treatment facility in Dayton.

Knisley and Adams were each convicted of aggravated possession of methamphetamine, a fifth-degree felony, with Adams ordered to submit to assessment for substance abuse treatment by Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health in Fairfield County, and to successfully complete any recommended treatment.

Receiving a continuance on his sentencing hearing until Oct. 23, 2019 at 1 p.m. was Carl Lockhart, 59, Bainbridge, in connection with his involvement in a Jan. 18 incident at Dollar General on North Shore Drive at Rocky Fork Lake.

He was convicted on tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse charges after his guilty plea on Aug. 16 stemming from placing the body of John Peacock in a parked car at the Dollar General parking lot.

Hi co-conspirator in the crime, Billy Joe Stone, 50, Hillsboro, entered a guilty plea for his involvement and also received a continuance for sentencing, which is scheduled for Oct. 11 at 9 a.m.

Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.

Community control, continuance for four others

By Tim Colliver

[email protected]

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