Lakes was in court last week where he pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the state on a charge of Dealing in a Narcotic Drug. Judge Kim Hall sentenced Lakes to 10 years in the Department of Corrections with no part of that sentence suspended.
If Lakes successfully completes the CLIFF or GRIP program for drug rehabilitation while incarcerated, he may petition the court for a modification of his sentence.
David Heineman, Sr. was sentenced in Starke Circuit Court Wednesday morning.
Heineman, Sr. pleaded guilty to a a Class B felony charge of Possession of Methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a school. Heineman, Sr. admitted in open court that on Apr. 7, 2012, he did possess the drug while at his residence on Lake Street, which is less than 1,000 feet from the Marshall/Starke Head Start school.
Judge Hall rejected a plea agreement for 18-year-old Martin Noble because he didn’t pay his $100 public defender fee and he didn’t have the paperwork filed for his evaluation into community corrections in time for his hearing. His case was set for a status hearing for Friday, Feb. 7 at 9 a.m.
A plea agreement for Hanley “Warren” Chapman was rejected by Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall Wednesday morning.
Judge Hall told those assembled in court that he had questions about the factual basis regarding his charge of Resisting Law Enforcement. According to court documents, Chapman was situated in a basement room when police were outside the home verbally attempting to get him out of the residence in North Judson. No physical force was used to take him into custody.
Two sentence hearings were held in Starke Circuit Court on Thursday.
Judge Kim Hall sentenced a man to the maximum prison term allowed for a charge with a Class B felony classification.
Jerrod Hammond pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the state to amended criminal information and a charge of Child Molestation as a Class B felony. Judge Hall sentenced Hammond to 20 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with no part of the sentence suspended. A second count of Child Molestation as a Class D felony was dropped.
A Knox woman received a 16-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in a plea agreement with the state to several charges.
Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall sentenced Sherry Wireman, 51, to ten years in the Indiana Department of Corrections on a charge of Dealing in Methamphetamine, a Class B felony. She was also sentenced to three years on Class D felony charge of Possession of Methamphetamine and an additional three years on a Class D felony charge of Possession of Precursors or Chemical Reagents.
The sentences were ordered to run consecutively for a total of 16 years. She was ordered to have purposeful incarceration and if she successfully completes a drug rehabilitation program while incarcerated, she may petition the court for a sentence modification.
Starke Circuit Court will be joining courts across the country in celebrating National Adoption Day on Friday, Nov. 22, when Judge Kim Hall will be swearing in new Court Appointed Special Advocates following a ceremony in his courtroom.
More than 3200 children currently in foster care in Indiana are ready and waiting to be adopted. National Adoption Day is a collective national effort to raise awareness of children like these who are waiting for a forever family. All of these children are in their situation through no fault of their own; many are in the foster care system because their birth parents were not protective and nurturing caregivers or chose to abuse or simply abandon them.
Sadie Wireman and Michael Wireman’s cases will not go to trial in Starke Circuit Court.
During a hearing held Tuesday, their defense attorney and the prosecuting attorney presented an agreed recommendation for a sentence for their guilty pleas. The mother and son would be pleading guilty to an amended charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance as a Class D felony. Judge Kim Hall will review the recommended sentence and a sentencing hearing was set for Thursday, Dec. 5 at 9 a.m.
Plea and sentencing hearings were held in Starke Circuit Court Wednesday morning. All plea agreements presented in court were rejected by Judge Kim Hall.
A jury trial was set for Jan. 15 at 9 a.m. for Sarah Mills. Mills, 20, is charged with Possession of a Narcotic (heroin). She was not able to participate adequately when questioned under oath. Police reportedly found a baggie with heroin residue in her vehicle when the vehicle was searched on July 7.
Both Michael Wireman and Sadie Wireman’s cases were set for change of plea and sentencing hearings in Starke Circuit Court Wednesday morning. The court received a letter from both of them stating that they would not be pleading guilty in plea agreements and would like to go to trial.
An admitted methamphetamine addict was sentenced in Starke Circuit Court Wednesday morning.
Brian Tapia, 27 of Plymouth, pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the state to a charge of Possession of Methamphetamine as a Class D felony. Judge Kim Hall sentenced Tapia per the plea agreement to 18 months in the Department of Corrections with no part of that sentence suspended. The sentence will be served on home detention with day reporting.
Avery Mullins pleaded guilty to a charge of Dealing a Narcotic Drug – Heroin as a Class B felony. Judge Hall sentenced Mullins to 10 years in the Department of Corrections with no part of that sentence suspended. If Mullins successfully completes the CLIFF or GRIP program while in prison, he may petition the court for a modification of his sentence. Mullins will serve this sentence consecutively with a previous sentence.
Aaron Wireman pleaded guilty to a charge of Counterfeiting and received a sentence of 30 months in the Department of Corrections with no part of the sentence suspended. He will serve this sentence consecutively with a previous sentence.
“We have pregnant mothers who intentionally abuse drugs, and then their babies are born with harmful drugs in their bodies. Children are often raised around dangerous meth labs, which is an epidemic in this county. Those labs give off toxic chemicals. You know one in four children in Starke County lives in poverty, and we’ve had children living in homes that are completely uninhabitable. We’ve had evidence where snow’s coming through the walls in the winter time,” said Hall.
Michael Wireman, 30 of Medaryville, was set to plead guilty in a plea agreement with the state, but he did not satisfy a portion of the terms of that agreement before the sentencing hearing. In the agreement, it stated that the defendant shall be evaluated with written notice of acceptance into the Starke County Community Corrections home detention program and he did not set up an appointment for evaluation.
Amber Lain admitted to Judge Kim Hall that she was in a home in which she lived with Johnny Mullens that had an active methamphetamine lab, precursors and drug paraphernalia in the presence of her son at the time a search warrant was executed at that residence on March 1. She admitted that she purchased ingredients for the manufacture of methamphetamine but never participated in the actual cooking of the harmful drug. She stated that she was usually at work when the drug was made and her son was usually in the home when that activity occurred.
Patricia Vega had agreed to plead guilty in a plea agreement with the state to a charge of Possession of a Legend Drug as a Class D felony. As part of the plea agreement, she would serve 24 months in the Department of Corrections with 12 months suspended to be served on home detention.
Smith had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of Receiving Stolen Property as a Class D felony in two separate cases. He admitted to stealing a John Deere Gator, a compressor and a welder from a storage shed in Holland, Mich. and attempting to sell those items in Starke County. A potential buyer believed that the item he was about to purchase was stolen and called the Starke County Sheriff’s Department. Smith was subsequently arrested. That occurred in January.
Having pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to one count of Child Molesting as a Class B felony, 19-year-old Zackary Armentrout received his sentence in the Starke Circuit Court this afternoon. The plea agreement left the sentencing up to the court, and Judge Kim Hall heard a number of witnesses called by attorney David Geisler on behalf of Armentrout.
The first witness was the defendants mother, who told the court that the 13-year-old victim in the case “had a crush on” Armentrout and the two were seen together often. She said the defendant had moved out of her home to move in with friends because Armentrout wanted to drink alcohol and do other things that his mother would not let him to do. While there, the defendant admitted he had sex twice with the victim, who also lived at the residence.
