A Hillsboro man was sentenced in Highland County Common Pleas Court to 14 months in prison for one count of assault on a peace officer.

Jamie Marcum, 44, was given 152 days of jail-time credit.

According to court documents, on Nov. 3, 2022, a patrol officer and auxiliary police officer were dispatched to Community Market due to an altercation between two people. When they got to the location the officers met with Marcum, who was “cussing and screaming.” Marcum became resistant as well as combative with the officers and was then taken to the ground and placed in handcuffs. He was transported him to Adena Greenfield Medical Center to be medically cleared before being placed in jail.

While he was at the medical center, Marcum made “numerous” threats toward the patrol officer. He also asked to use the restroom, with his hands being cuffed in front to allow him to use the restroom. When he exited the restroom, the patrol officer told Marcum that they needed the return the handcuffs to behind his back. Marcum refused the order and officers escorted him back to the room.

When they returned to the room, the patrol officer tried to handcuff Marcum behind his back and he became combative by raising his right arm and striking the patrol officer in the throat with an “open-hand strike.” The patrol officer, auxiliary police officer and a hospital security guard were able to force him onto a bed, where he was then handcuffed. Marcum “repeatedly” said that he didn’t hit the patrol officer in the throat and that it was an accident. After Marcum was medically cleared, he was taken to jail where he told the patrol officer that he didn’t hit an officer or do anything else wrong, calling the patrol officer a liar.

Joseph Blanton, 37, Columbus, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for one count of aggravated trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound, a third-degree felony. Blanton was given one day of jail-time credit.

According to court documents, while a patrol officer was on patrol on Aug. 7, 2022, the officer turned from North Washington Street to Jefferson Street in Greenfield and saw a black Ford Focus in front of them start to rapidly accelerate. The patrol officer paced their vehicle and saw that the vehicle they were tailing was continuously traveling at about 35 mph from Fourth Street to Sixth Street, with that section being a 25 mph zone. As the vehicle passed Sixth Street, the patrol officer activated the cruiser’s overhead lights and siren to start a traffic stop.

The suspect vehicle then made a left turn onto South Seventh Street and stopped. The patrol officer initiated contact with the driver who said his name was Blanton. While the patrol officer was speaking to him, the officer saw multiple baggies that looked to contain a white powdery substance sitting on top of the steering wheel column. The patrol officer ordered Blanton to exit the vehicle and told him that he was being detained. Blanton “became very upset” and said that the baggies contained meth and fentanyl and that he was going back to prison.

The patrol officer handcuffed and secured Blanton in the back of the patrol vehicle then advised Blanton of his Miranda rights. Blanton said he was from Columbus and got his drugs from there. However, he denied selling drugs and said that it was all for himself.

Blanton, according to court records, also said that he snorts and smokes the drugs. The patrol officer then returned to Blanton’s vehicle and took photos of the baggies on the steering column and secured them. The patrol officer found another baggie underneath the driver’s seat that contained a powder substance as well as a glass pipe with burn marks and an electronic scale with residue on the passenger seat. Multiple strips of buprenorphine and naloxone sublingual film were also found underneath the driver’s seat.

Blantono said he had a prescription for the strips but didn’t have it with him. The officer later received a report that confirmed Blanton had a prescription for the buprenorphine and naloxone sublingual film. The three baggies that held the suspected narcotics were submitted to BCI for analysis.

One baggie was found to contain meth, and the second and third baggies were found to contain fentanyl-related compounds.

Stephen Weil, 37, Hillsboro, was sentenced to three years of community control on one count of aggravated possession of meth. Weil was also accepted into the New Way to Recovery Drug Court Docket.

According to court documents, on April 27, 2022, at around 4:26 p.m. officers from the Hillsboro Police Department responded to an incident on East Main Street where a subject was trying to jump start a white truck. The person calling said they were concerned for the suspect because he’d been at Walmart the previous night yelling. When the officers got to the scene, the subject entered the white truck and drove it to Flagway because he claimed hey had permission to park the truck there.

The sergeant at the scene followed the Weil to Flagway and was advised by dispatch that the license plate on the white truck “did not come back to anything.” After Weil parked at Flagway, the sergeant noticed an orange cap to a hypodermic needle. The sergeant asked if there were any needles inside the truck and the suspect answered no.

The sergeant asked him for ID and ran his license through dispatch. Weil had a suspended driver’s license and a warrant that was outside of the pick-up radius. The sergeant asked Weil if he had anything illegal inside the truck Weil said he did not. The sergeant asked Weil if he could search the truck. Weil said no. Because of seeing the hypodermic cap and Weil’s “uncontrollable body movements and facial sores,” the sergeant told Weil that he was going to walk his K9 unit around the truck.

Th K9 gave a positive sign for narcotics on the vehicle’s driver’s door. The sergeant told Weil that the K9 unit gave a positive alert for narcotics on the vehicle, “at which time Weil became visibly upset and agitated.” Weil said that he’d owned the truck for around a month and didn’t think anything was inside it.

The sergeant searched the truck and found a black bag on the passenger seat that held two hypodermic needles, two white paper folds, a small empty bag with residue, three cut straws with residue and one water dropper. The sergeant picked up a black shirt and a cut straw also fell out as well as a piece of aluminum foil with residue. The sergeant pulled the seat forward to look behind it and found a clear baggie that contained a crystal substance.

Weil claimed that somebody drove the truck to East Main Street and he only came to get it moved.

The baggie containing a crystal substance was found to contain meth.

Christopher Holt, 35, Greenfield, was sentenced to three years of community control on one cunt of aggravated possession of meth, a fifth-degree felony. He must successfully complete TCC residential treatment and aftercare.

According to court documents, while an officer was on patrol on June 11, 2022, they saw a grey Ford F-150 with a subject inside near the back of a parking lot. The subject in the vehicle turned away from the patrol officer abruptly as they were getting close to the patrol vehicle. The officer ran the license plate on the F-150 and was advised that the plate came back to a 2006 Honda. The F-150 later left the parking lot and went northbound on South McArthur Way.

The patrol officer followed and activated the overhead lights to start a traffic stop on the truck. The vehicle came to a stop and the officer started to approach the vehicle. The driver apologized for the location and said that the power steering went out as he turned. He also said that they didn’t have a driver’s license and that the passenger, Holt, also didn’t have one.

Both subjects said they’d recently purchased the truck from someone who had the fictitious license plate on their vehicle. The patrol officer ran the VIN on the truck, which came back to that same person. Dispatch also said that both Holt and the other subject had suspended driver’s licenses. The patrol officer had the other subject exit the vehicle and was detained in the back of the patrol officer’s vehicle. The patrol officer then had Holt exit the vehicle.

The patrol officer asked both subjects if there were any drugs or weapons inside of the vehicle. The two said that there were two air soft guns, weed and weed paraphernalia inside. The patrol officer then did an inventory of the vehicle and found a set of glass pipes with a “strong odor” of marijuana on the floorboard.

The patrol officer found a glass jar with a white crystalline residue inside of a bag placed on the center console and another bag that held a metal grinder with green leafy residue. On the passenger side dashboard, the patrol officer found a small paper fold that was placed partially obscured in a crevice. The paper fold was found to contain a white crystalline substance.

Both suspects said they previously used meth but claimed that they no longer did. Both denied ownership of the items inside the truck except for the marijuana paraphernalia.

Holt told the patrol officer that the crystalline substance was “probably battery acid” that he’d folded up. A short time later, the truck was towed from the scene. The crystalline substance was submitted to BCI and found to contain meth.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.