This little piggy went missing (Story)

This little piggy went missing

4 arrested for stealing hogs

By BOB BLAKE

CELINA — Complaints about missing hogs from a western Mercer County farm has led to the break-up of a hog stealing ring.

Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey said Tuesday that four people were arrested and charged in the case. Grey said his office has received several reports in the past several weeks from a farmer who said hogs were missing from his farm near the Ohio-Indiana state line.

“It’s pretty random. This isn’t something we deal with a whole lot,” said Chief Deputy Gery Thobe, of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office. “Most of the farmers around here are dealing with a couple thousand hogs. They’re not going to notice if a few are missing.”

Ricky L. Crouch, 50, of Bryant, Ind., and Chad M. Crouch, 28, of Celina, were charged with breaking and entering, a fifth-degree felony. They were being held in the Jay County, Ind., jail, Grey said.

Lisa R. Crouch, 42, of Bryant, Ind., and Christina L. Crouch, 29, of Celina, were charged with receiving stolen property, a first-degree misdemeanor. They were being held in the Mercer County Detention Facility.

Grey said Ricky and Chad Crouch were removing hogs from the barn and transporting them to Indiana. Lisa and Christina Crouch were arrested at a local livestock company in possession of the stolen hogs, attempting to sell them.

Thobe said there were actually two farms involved where the four were stealing hogs. The first farmer noticed things amiss and began keeping a closer eye on things. During 10 weeks, the farmer noticed 22 hogs stolen.

Grey said the local incident prompted a search warrant in Jay County, Ind., where more stolen hogs were located.

“I’m sure this happens a lot more than gets reported,” Thobe said.

Published in The Lima News: Feb. 8, 2012

 

Pastor pleads no contest to solicitation (Story)

Pastor pleads no contest to solicitation

By BOB BLAKE

LIMA— A Lima pastor convicted of soliciting undercover police officers for sex said it wasn’t his intent to follow through with any sexual acts with the women.

Pastor Ronald Fails, of Grace Church Worldwide Ministries, made the statement after pleading no contest to one count of soliciting. The change of plea came Tuesday moments before Fails’ trial was set to begin in Lima Municipal Court. In exchange for the plea, city prosecutors dropped a second count of soliciting and a charge of loitering to engage in solicitation.

Judge William Lauber found Fails guilty and sentenced him to 10 days in the Allen County Jail and to pay court costs. Fails was ordered to surrender to the Lima Police Department on Monday to serve his jail sentence.

Assistant City Prosecutor Destiny Hudson said Fails was arrested Aug. 16 as part of a targeted police operation against prostitution in the area of Kibby and Elizabeth streets.

“He had driven through the neighborhood several times and finally pulled over to the side of the road waiting for the women to approach. When they reached the passenger side of the vehicle, Mr. Fails already had the passenger window rolled down,” Hudson said. “Immediately he engaged the women in conversation and asked what they were willing to do. [The officer] asked him what he wanted to do and Mr. Fails” made a sexually explicit request.

Fails’ attorney, Bill Kluge, said Fails does not remember making any sexually explicit statements toward the officers. Kluge said Fails has used his ministry to help “street people.”

“He knows these people. He has helped many of the street prostitutes in Lima,” Kluge said. “He has brought them food. He has given them clothing. He has provided them money when they needed it.”

Fails apologized for his actions and offered an explanation.

“It is true oftentimes when talking to people on the street you talk to them in a language that is common for talking to people involved in those kinds of things,” Fails said. “I think my behavior, I think my commitment to this community for 20 years I’ve been involved in so many different ministries, projects and activities speak for itself.

“Obviously, had I known that engaging someone in a conversation implied that I was guilty of committing some kind of crime then I wouldn’t have said anything at all. I had no idea that having a conversation of that nature was in fact a crime on my part.”

Published in The Lima News: Feb. 1, 2012

Sentimental Santa home (Story)

Sentimental Santa home

Robbers return decoration after keeping it for a year

By BOB BLAKE

SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — For five years, the animated, black Santa stood in the front yard of Diana Carter’s home in Shawnee Township. As the light of passing cars hit the figure, Santa sang, danced and turned his head.

Santa’s presence became something of a neighborhood attraction through the Christmas season, Carter said.

“The neighbors loved him,” Carter said. “I live on the curve, and when they came around the curve they knew to hit their lights for their kids, and the Santa was going to take off.”

This year’s holiday season wasn’t nearly as jolly for Carter or those driving the curve from Pecan Avenue onto Yellowood Street. Bandits swiped Santa from Carter’s yard last year on Christmas Day. Adding insult to injury, the Santa had been a gift from her late husband, Jerry, who died in 2009.

“That had been the only thing I had been putting out,” Carter said. “I just didn’t feel like putting anything else out. He was enough by himself, and then he was gone.”

Fast forward a year to last Saturday night, Christmas Eve. Carter went to bed late but was awakened sometime early Christmas morning by a noise outside her home. When she got up and looked outside, she could see a silhouetted figure lying in her yard.

“I was like, ‘Well, what is that? Is that the Santa from last year, or is that a person who fell?’” Carter said. “So I called the police, and it was that Santa Claus, and he was back. I was too scared to turn on any porch lights, to do anything because I wasn’t sure. So, I called the police.”

Santa didn’t come home empty-handed, either. He came bearing a Christmas card.

“The envelope said, “From the robbers to the victim,’” Carter said. “And then the little Christmas card on the inside they wrote, ‘Keep Santa safe. We tried. It’s a miracle he’s back.’”

Carter said the police officers helped her put Santa in her garage, where he’s still standing.

“I am so happy to have him back, though,” she said. “It just meant a lot. I couldn’t find another one like him.

“I have worried everyone at work for a whole year. I know at least 11 of us have looked online from last year to this year. I have looked in Texas when I was down there. My girlfriends have looked in Indianapolis. My one girlfriend has looked in Berea, trying to find me a Santa because I was devastated.”

Eventually, someone found one in an online auction, but with a price tag exceeding $200, it was more than Carter was willing to pay, she said. Then, the original reappeared.

“I’m not even mad at the people who took him,” she said. “Whoever they are, I forgive them.”

With the sentimental Santa safe at home, will he be back at his usual post next year?

“Oh my God, yes he is,” Carter said. “He is definitely going back out.”

Published in The Lima News: Dec. 29, 2011

Tough guy breaks down (Story & Video)

Check out the video: Lima News video by BOB BLAKE.

 

Tough guy breaks down

Lucas gets 17 years for beating, robbing elderly woman

By BOB BLAKE

LIMA — Margaret Ditto had lived at her home on Dewey Street in Delphos for 20 years. It was a place where she lived alone, feeling safe and secure. That all changed one night in July, Allen County Prosecutor Juergen Waldick said.

That’s when Andrew Lucas, 26, knocked on Ditto’s door, asking to use the telephone. When she said no, Lucas forced his way in and began beating her severely, Waldick said.

Lucas then went further into the house stealing a lockbox that contained several important documents, a ring and jewelry, Waldick said. The lockbox was never recovered.

“He didn’t just steal her lockbox. He didn’t just beat her up,” Waldick said. “Those injuries we believe will go away. The trauma he inflicted on this poor woman will never go away. A year after the beating and now 89 years old, she is afraid to live at home. She’s told people that she doesn’t feel safe anymore. He stole her security; he stole her sense of serenity that she had living where she had for all that time.”

Lucas will have time to think about that July 21 evening. On Wednesday, Judge Richard Warren sentenced Lucas to 17 years in prison for aggravated burglary and felonious assault. Lucas wept as Warren issued his sentence.

Lucas’ comments during Wednesday’s hearing in Allen County Common Pleas Court were brief.

“I want to say that I’m deeply sorry for what I did. I just want Miss Ditto to have closure for what happened to her. There isn’t really too much I can say except I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Waldick showed graphic photos prior to the sentencing depicting what happened to Ditto. Deep bruises covered her arms, neck and face. She was bloodied, one of the punches knocking the dentures out of her mouth and breaking them.

“In 25, 26 years of prosecuting this may be one of the worst home invasion assaults that I’ve seen. We’ve seen other cases where people have been killed during home invasions but in terms of somebody surviving this, this woman was hurt very severely,” Waldick said. “She ended up in the hospital not once but twice. I just wanted to make sure her suffering and the things she went through didn’t go unnoticed or not remembered.”

Published in The Lima News: Nov. 24, 2011

Man tries, fails to rob 2 gas stations (Story)

Man tries, fails to rob 2 gas stations

By BOB BLAKE

ALLENTOWN — Surveillance videos from a pair of local gas stations show a man in a gray, hooded sweatshirt calmly approaching the clerks and demanding money. In both instances, the would-be robber left empty-handed.

Police are still looking for the man and asking for the public’s help.

A similar, but successful, robbery happened late Tuesday in Van Wert, though it wasn’t clear if the that incident was related to the other two.

The two would-be robberies in Allen County took place about an hour apart Wednesday morning at the Shell stations in Allentown and Spencerville, authorities said. Officials, including Allen County Sheriff Sam Crish, were still on location at the Allentown store when the call came in reporting the attempt in Spencerville.

“It’s pretty much the same type M.O., same clothing description,” Crish said. “We’re pretty confident it’s the same individual.”

American Township Lt. Jerry Sarchet Sr. said the first attempted robbery took place around 8:48 a.m. at the Shell station at the corner of Allentown and Copus roads in Allentown.

“The suspect approached the clerk and demanded money. He didn’t show a weapon,” Sarchet said. “The clerk was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ and gestured like maybe he had a gun. The suspect then took off out of the store.”

A tracking dog from the Sheriff’s Office couldn’t find a trail at the Allentown station. The dog was also brought to Spencerville but could not find a trail.

Spencerville Police Chief Darin Cook said a similar robbery attempt took place at the store there around 9:57 a.m.

“The man pulled his shirt up around his face and told the cashier he needed his money,” Cook said. “The cashier said, “I can’t do that.’ The man turned and walked out of the business, ran down the front and eastbound until he hit Pearl Street when he turned south and appears he got into a vehicle.”

Authorities are looking for a clean-shaven white male standing approximately 6 foot 1 and weighing 180 pounds.

Anyone with information on the man’s identity or whereabouts is asked to call the Allen County Sheriff’s Office at 419-227-3535.

In Van Wert, police were looking for a white male, 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall, with short brown hair, wearing a gray sweatshirt over a navy blue T-shirt and blue jeans who robbed the Pak A Sak store at 800 N. Washington St. at about 10:11 p.m. Tuesday. The man did not display a weapon but demanded money and was given an undisclosed amount of cash before he ran southeast from the store.

Published in The Lima News: Nov. 3, 2011

State, widow agree (Story)

State, widow agree

Settlement reached in former Wapak chief’s wrongful imprionment suit

By BOB BLAKE

COLUMBUS — The widow of a former area police chief has reached a settlement with the state in a wrongful imprisonment lawsuit involving her late husband.

Vicki Harrison, the widow of former Wapakoneta Police Chief David Harrison, signed off on the settlement last month. Earlier this month, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Judge Alan Travis, of the Ohio Court of Claims, approved the settlement — a $260,000 payout that ends a years-long legal drama. Harrison died in January following a brief battle with cancer. He was 58.

According to documents filed with the Ohio Court of Claims in Columbus, payment of the settlement will be split. Vicki Harrison will receive $190,000 and Harrison’s attorney, Dean Boland, of Lakewood, will receive $70,000 for unpaid professional fees and costs.

The settlement ends more than nine years of legal twists and turns for the former chief, a 22-year veteran of the department.

Harrison, who served as chief from 1988 to 2002, resigned abruptly in May 2002 after a tape recorder, later identified as his, was found in the women’s locker room at the police department. An investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation found images of child pornography on his work and home computers. Harrison claimed the images were from a previous case the department investigated.

In a plea deal, Harrison pleaded guilty to charges of pandering obscenity involving a minor and pandering obscenity. Harrison served a year in the Auglaize County Jail and was released in July 2004 without the imposition of five years of mandatory probation. Six months after his release, Auglaize County Prosecutor Edwin Pierce filed a motion to resentence Harrison to five years probation.

At a hearing in March 2005, Harrison withdrew his guilty pleas and a special prosecutor sought and received a multiple-count indictment in June 2005. In 2006, a Madison County jury found Harrison guilty and a judge sentenced Harrison to six years in prison.

The Ohio Supreme Court, however, ordered him released from prison in August 2008 and in July 2009 unanimously ruled his Madison County trial violated his right against double jeopardy.

“The journey this case has taken is lamentable,” Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer wrote at the time. “We hope it will never be repeated.”

Harrison originally sought more than $400,000 in damages in the wrongful imprisonment lawsuit.

Published in The Lima News: Oct. 25, 2011

Man arrested in doll theft (Story)

Man arrested in doll theft

Drop-off window at Delphos thrift shop was access point

By BOB BLAKE

DELPHOS — The drop-off window at the Interfaith Thrift Shop in Delphos is meant to assist generous people looking to help those less fortunate. An elderly Putnam County man apparently looked at it as more of a self-serve window.

A pair of police officers, across the street in their cruisers, watched as Gerald Siefker, 70, of Fort Jennings, leaned into the window and removed 13 porcelain dolls.

“I don’t think he actually crawled in, I think he was kind of leaned into the window grabbing things out,” Delphos Police Chief Kyle Fittro said. “I know they’ve had trouble in the past. The thrift store has had trouble with people doing that, getting in there and stealing things other people have donated.”

The store is moving forward with plans to install security cameras at the drop-off window because of the problem with people taking things.

Officers watched the theft go down around 5:40 p.m. Tuesday at the store, 102 N. Main St.

Fittro said when the officers confronted Siefker he admitted to taking the dolls. Store officials told police they want to pursue charges.

“Apparently, he’s a collector,” Fittro said.

The dolls were valued at $150, according to Fittro. Siefker was charged with theft, a first-degree misdemeanor. Fittro said the charge carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Published in The Lima News: Oct. 8, 2011

Donation of the Corn (Story & Video)

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Students help farmer donate corn to vets

By BOB BLAKE

ROCKFORD — A group of Parkway High School pupils received a firsthand lesson in helping others on Thursday morning. The lesson wasn’t in a classroom, but in a rural Rockford cornfield. It all happened thanks to a chance encounter at an area pharmacy.

The mission for the dozen pupils, all members of the Parkway FFA, was simple: pick sweet corn from a one acre plot on Rob Hoehamer’s farm. The beneficiary of their labor — the Allen County Veterans Food Pantry.

“Our FFA has always been involved in community projects as much as we can. We like to help the community,” said Caden Hellwarth, president of the Parkway FFA. “We thought it was a really good idea for Rob to donate his corn. It’s a really nice thing. We thought it would be a good idea to help with that if they need our help.”

Hoehamer said injuries have forced him to scale back over the years from planting sweet corn on 10 acres of his farmland to just an acre. During a talk with his pastor earlier this year, Hoehamer said he decided to sell some of his harvest to longtime customers, recoup the costs of planting and donate the rest.

A chance encounter with Sandra Bohle, director of Angels for Veterans, at a Celina pharmacy set things in motion for the donation to the veterans food pantry.

“I was just going to give it to whoever needed it. I started out with our church members then I did give some to the CALL Food Pantry in Celina,” Hoehamer said. “I advertised on the radio and people came out and picked and I helped them pick. I met Bohle in Celina one day just by accident and gave her a call and here we are.”

Bohle said as she learned Hoehamer’s daughter is in the U.S. Coast Guard she offered the services of her organization if he ever needed them, including giving Hoehamer her business card.

“We just kind of chatted for a few minutes and went our separate way. I didn’t think about it really again,” Bohle said. “Here just a couple days ago my phone rang and it was Rob. He said, ‘Hey do you remember me from CVS?’ I said, ‘Well sure I do.’ He started to explain to me that he had all this corn that needed picked and he had a disability and he’d like do donate that corn.”

A call to folks at Parkway schools quickly led to finding volunteers for the corn-picking mission.

“I’m sure it’s going to be pretty easy. I mean, it’s picking corn,” said Destinee Guggenbiller, vice president of the Parkway FFA. “We do it at home every day whenever we have sweet corn in our garden or field corn or whatever.”

Growing up around agriculture made it natural for the club members once they hit the field and started picking. Getting out of class didn’t hurt, either.

“My whole family farms so it’s just natural, I guess,” she said. “Obviously, you love getting out of school, I mean everybody does. It’s for a good cause.”

Published in The Lima News: Sept. 2, 2011

Prostitution protest (Story)

Prostitution protest

Fed up, Vine Street man takes a public stand

By BOB BLAKE

LIMA — Jesse Morris is fed up. What was supposed to be a quiet, peaceful early morning cigarette Saturday turned into yet another confrontation with a prostitute. Morris decided to take action.

After more than three years of battling the prostitution problem in his West Vine Street neighborhood, Morris decided to take a public stand. On large white sheets in front of his home, Morris wrote, “No more prostitution we have kids!!!!”

“This is my property, not theirs, but they act like it’s their neighborhood. I did it because I have kids,” said Morris, who has two young children. “I’m sick of these ladies. There are other things you can do to make money.”

Prostitution has been an issue in the neighborhood for years. Morris said he’s tried multiple approaches to address the issue — calling the police, calling in license plates, using an air horn. Nothing works, he said.

“They don’t care,” he said. “Usually, if I do something about it, I get harassed by them.”

Morris said the prostitution raid early last week in the Kibby Corners neighborhood wasn’t the impetus for his one-day protest.

“I bought this house to make a home,” Morris said. “I’ve put a lot of money into it. I didn’t do it to let them come here and do what they want.”

The women who engage in prostitution in the area are there seemingly at all hours, Morris said. They are there early in the morning to pick up construction workers and truckers, even as children walk to a corner to wait for the school bus.

The response to the impromptu sign has been overwhelmingly positive, Morris said.

“It’s been nonstop honking in support of my message,” he said. “It’s got me giddy.”

There have been a few naysayers, Morris said. A woman who Morris has had run-ins with in the past for soliciting in the neighborhood walked past the display in the early afternoon, yelling incoherently from across the street.

“See what I have to put up with?” he said. “When you say something or you call the cops, they harass you nonstop.”

Morris said he wants to call attention to the issue in order to improve the neighborhood for his children.

“They aren’t going to run me out of my neighborhood,” Morris said. “I live here. They’re just here for a stint.”

Published in The Lima News: Aug. 21, 2011

Gentile ends 60 years as Jewish temple singer (Story & Video)

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Gentile ends 60 years as Jewish temple singer

By BOB BLAKE

LIMA — Harold Beckett loves to sing. It has been his life. But there is a time and a place for all things to come to an end, he said Friday.

After 60 years, Friday’s Sabbath service marked the end of Beckett’s tenure as cantor for Temple Beth Israel-Shaare Zedek. It was an emotional farewell as Beckett said his baritone voice isn’t as strong as it once was.

“I don’t really know what I’m going to do with myself now that I’m quitting, because I love to sing,” Beckett said. “I don’t feel I sing as well as I used to. I really don’t like to hear old men sing. I’m 88 so I thought it was time to move on.”

Beckett, a retired Shawnee music teacher and former choir director at Grace Methodist Church and First Baptist Church, isn’t Jewish. He’s been accepted at the temple all the same.

“This is a beautiful, strong faith and wonderful, wonderful people,” Beckett said. “They’ve been so good to me, so kind and so interesting. I love to talk with them.”

Many of the members of the temple have grown up listening to Beckett sing, said Connie Hornung, who takes over as president of the temple on Sunday.

“Harold has been here my whole life. He is such an emotional person who just loves the temple, loves the music, loves the people,” Hornung said. “He actually tried to retire about 15 years ago. He lasted maybe less than a year and said, ‘Can I please come back?’ Do you have to ask? Of course you can come back. We loved having him here.”

While members of the temple understood Beckett’s decision to retire, it has been bittersweet, Hornung said. Beckett adds to each service he’s a part of, she said.

“The music is so beautiful and meaningful,” Hornung said. “To watch him sing it really enhances the Sabbath services and the high holiday services for us so much because he truly feels every word that he sings. It’s going to be a big loss.”

Music has been such a big part of his life, Beckett said he still misses teaching. It’s time to move on, he said.

“The Bible tells us that there’s a time for everything. There’s a time to stop singing,” Beckett said. “I love to sing. I’ve been singing since I could stand up I think. Yes, I will miss this. I love these people, I love this music.”

Published in The Lima News: Aug. 13, 2011