Offenders Appear in Court for Violations

  Two offenders appeared in Starke Circuit Court yesterday after it was found that they violated terms of their plea agreements and rules with Community Corrections.

David Ratcliff of San Pierre was serving a sentence on home detention and work release when he violated several rules. He violated a major financial agreement, failed drug screens and was in possession of contraband. Judge Kim Hall ordered him to serve the remainder of his 24 month sentence in the Department of Corrections. He was given credit time from July 11 to March 27 plus three days.

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Eric Wireman Arrested After Attempting Home Detention Escape

Eric Wireman

After being on the run from Starke County Community Corrections for six days, Eric Wireman was arrested Tuesday after he was located by a Community Corrections recovery team at a motel in Winamac. Originally released on home detention for B-felony Burglary, Wireman failed to report to Community Corrections on Feb. 29 as part of his weekly check-in as a high-risk offender.

Community Corrections Director Shawn Mattraw said after Wireman’s failure to appear, multiple attempts to contact him were made. Officials traveled to his last known address and were told he had moved out shortly before they arrived, and they determined he had absconded from home detention. After six days of looking for him, a recovery team located him at a motel in Winamac and he has been arrested, with formal charges of Escape to be filed by the prosecutor.

Judge Kim Hall has expressed his agreement with the filing of official charges, and he sent Wireman to back to the Department of Corrections to serve out his initial sentence. The earliest possible release of Wireman is October 15.

Starke Circuit Court Judge Denies Plea Agreement for Rose Martin

Rose Martin

Rose Martin, 47, of Medaryville made her appearance in Starke Circuit Court this week for charges of Manufacturing Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine, and Possession of Chemical Reagents or Precursors.

There was some controversy in the courtroom when Martin told Judge Kim Hall that she submitted to a pre-sentence investigation over the phone and by mail rather than coming into the office, but there was no record of it being completed. Also, Martin said she had been accepted into the Community Corrections home detention program with electronic monitoring in LaPorte, but her case information indicated that she failed to make arrangements with Community Corrections.

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Starke County Community Corrections to Share Misdemeanor Funds with Sheriff

Community Corrections staff
Left to right: Robert Hinojosa, Shawn Mattraw and Kimberly Kennedy from Community Corrections

Kim Kennedy, the Officer Manager of the Starke County Community Corrections, appeared before the county council this week to discuss the misdemeanor funds received from the state. Those funds, which total $16,885 a year, are divided between the Sheriff’s office and Community Corrections.

Community Corrections has only used $2800 of the misdemeanor funds, and she was asked if the unused funds by her office could be released to the Sheriff’s office. Kennedy said she has no problem with the Sheriff using the funds, but requested permission to only bill the auditor once a year.

The misdemeanor funds are to keep prisoners with less than a felony conviction out of the county jail until sentencing. If they cannot afford to go into home monitoring with Community Corrections, those funds are used so they can be enrolled. This lessens the population of the county jail, which, given its high population history, is extremely helpful.

The council asked Kennedy to bill the county on a more regular basis, and she said a bill to be paid out of the fund will be sent to the auditor every two months.