Porter County Courts
May 22, 2012 4:38PM
Updated: July 2, 2012 9:42AM
VALPARAISO
Man gets jail time for drunken mo-ped drive
A Valparaiso man pulled him over by police for drunken driving on a mo-ped received a two-year prison sentence.
Darin Kurt Medley, 48, will also serve four years on probation for his plea to Class D felony intimidation for repeatedly asking the officer, “Do you want to die,” while going for the gun.
Prior to Monday’s sentencing, Medley also pleaded guilty to the Class A misdemeanors of resisting law enforcement, battery and operating while intoxicated. Dropped in the plea were charges of Class C felony disarming a law enforcement officer and C misdemeanor operating while intoxicated.
Police had pulled him over off of U.S. 6 on Sept. 9 because he was driving erratically.
Wrist-slashing woman pleads guilty but mentally ill
A Chesterton woman who cut both her own wrists and those of an 11-year-old boy while at Dunes State Park has pleaded guilty but mentally ill to Class C felony battery with a deadly weapon.
Amy Denno, 38, faces up to eight years in prison when sentenced on July 16.
Denno said at Monday’s hearing that she suffers from multiple mental illnesses and is on medication for them.
When she committed the crime on July 10, the boy threw the kitchen paring knife into the bushes and talked her into driving to the hospital.
Meth lab charges downgraded for Valparaiso man
A Valparaiso man whom police caught at a Knox meth lab has pleaded down from Class B felony aiding in the manufacture of methamphetamine to Class D felony possession of a controlled substance.
Evan Lee Bonnell, 23, had faced up to 20 years in prison before his Monday plea. He is scheduled for sentencing on July 16 when he could be sentenced up to three years.
Police had traced the meth lab because another man bought enough pseudoephedrine in December to alert law enforcement, and Bonnell admitted to buying pseudoephedrine for the lab, also.
Portage man pleads guilty to drunken driving while on probation
A Portage man pleaded guilty on Monday to drunken driving while on probation for other crimes.
Michael P. Gass, 26, had been sentenced in March 2010 for burglarizing a neighbor’s apartment during a party, helping to steal a keg of beer and a laptop computer.
On Monday, he admitted guilt to Class D felony operating while intoxicated. Court files show Gass had a .12 percent blood alcohol content when police pulled him over for not stopping at a stop sign near Vivian Street and Mulberry Avenue in Portage on Aug. 28.
He is scheduled for sentencing July 16 and faces up to three years in prison for the OWI.
Camp burglary nets man time served, plus probation
A Valparaiso man was sentenced Monday to six months served and 21/2 years probation for burglarizing a now-closed Girl Scout Camp.
Adam C. Jarrell, 29, was sentenced on an April 9 plea to Class D felony possession of stolen property for a DeWalt grinder that police found in his vehicle on Sept. 9 when they caught him at Camp Meadowbrook on County Road 700N.
Jarrell was at the camp near an open storage area and told police he was looking for a lost cat.
He told police that he wanted to pawn any tools he found along with his own tools because he was out of work.
Habitual traffic offender sentencing set for July 9
A Valparaiso man who had multiple offenses in multiple courts and a history of driving intoxicated after having his license permanently revoked will likely spend six years in prison.
Kendall G. Smith, 66, pleaded guilty to Class C felony operating while a habitual traffic violator for life and for violating his parole on a February 2008 operating while intoxicated accident.
Smith’s sentencing is July 9 for a January 2009 incident where police pulled him over on Silhavy Road in Valparaiso for weaving. Although the police reported the smell of alcohol on his breath, court records gave no indication of a breath test.
Smith has also been charged previously with Class C felony escape for running from Hebron police and into a cornfield while handcuffed, leaving his wife in the vehicle where police discovered marijuana on Smith’s seat.
4-year sentence for man found guilty of scams
A former Hammond and Valparaiso man received a four-year prison sentence for two financial scams he took part in.
Joshua D. Parrish, 23, was found guilty on his pleas to two felonies, Class C felony offense related to registration for calling in Vicodin prescriptions to pharmacies in January 2011 and Class C felony fraud on a financial institution for using a fake company’s forged payroll check and seven checks from a canceled account to take $5,380 from a bank.
As part of his sentencing plea, Parrish is expected to testify against Barry Ross, whose closed account he used the checks from, and his brother, Nathan Parrish, who is charged in the payroll scheme.
Porter Superior Court Judge William Alexa has denied Nathan Parrish’s plea agreement because of 50 incidents in Porter County Jail and contempt of court behavior in Porter County Superior Judge David Chidester’s court.
