Porter County Courts
January 14, 2013 9:42PM
Updated: January 14, 2013 11:04PM
Man sentenced to 3 years for attack
A Valparaiso man who claimed to be a gang enforcer before attacking a man in Portage received a three-year prison sentence Monday.
Christopher O’Neil Driver, 26, received one year for Class D felony criminal gang activity, one for misdemeanor resisting arrest and one for a probation violation, all to be served consecutively.
In October 2011, he and three others attacked a man walking to a school bus stop on Canden Avenue to pick up his daughter, first asking the man — who had no gang affiliations — what gang he was with and then bloodying his nose.
Police found Driver hiding in the bathroom of an apartment and “he also later advised he was scared,” court records state.
11-year sentence for robbing laundry
A Porter man who robbed a Chesterton automated laundry at gunpoint for child support money received an 11-year prison sentence Monday.
For his plea to Class B felony burglary, Clayton Robert Ball, 24, received eight years in prison and four on probation. For his plea to Class D felony intimidation, he received a three-year sentence consecutive to the first.
Ball took about $200 from the March 2 holdup, telling the attendant he was doing it because he was just back from serving in Iraq and his wife had left him.
He told police he needed the money to send for his daughter in Tennessee.
Ball also threatened to slit a police officer’s throat during an Oct. 29 incident after spitting in the officer’s face.
