John Burns learned the hard way that it doesn’t pay to violate probation.
Brown County Court of Common Pleas Judge Scott T. Gusweiler sentenced Burns on September 11 to 17 months in the Ohio Department of Corrections for violating his community control, according to a court of common pleas press release. Burns was originally convicted of grant theft of a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony, on November 10 2014, and was spared jail time in exchange for Burns accepting a plea bargain.
Burns was sentenced to two years of community control, but according to court documents, earlier this summer he violated a number of conditions of his probation.
According to an affidavit to show probable cause, filed in the court of common pleas, a Brown County probation officer states that Burns violated a protection order sentenced in Clermont County, did not gain lawful employment, left the state without the probation department’s permission, failed to report a change of address, and failed to report to the probation department between February-May 2015, among other things.
As such, the court agreed with the affidavit to hold a probation revocation hearing, and Burns was then sentenced to serve the rest of his community control sentence in prison.
According to the Ohio Department of Corrections, Burns isn’t expected to be released to the general public until February 2017. He could secure early release from sentencing court in late October 2016, provided he meets certain criteria.
In a separate, unrelated case, James Coomer was sentenced to 12 months in prison for violating the terms of his community control. He was originally convicted of theft, a fifth-degree felony, in June 2015, and was warned that he faced a maximum of 12 months in prison and a fine of $2,500.
In another separate, unrelated case, Joshua G. Sams was sentenced to 10 months in prison, which will be served concurrently with a sentence from the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas. Sams’ drivers license has been suspended for 12 months and he has an optional three years of post-release control when he is released from prison.
Lastly, in another unrelated case, Jesse A. Weeks was sentenced to 14 months in prison with a 12-month drivers license suspension for a conviction of trafficking in counterfeit controlled substances, a fourth-degree felony. A charge of trafficking in heroin, a fourth-degree felony, was dismissed. Weeks was advised he has an optional three years of post-release control upon his release from prison.