In Indiana County Court today, a number of criminal defendants will be sentenced, including an Indiana man who pleaded guilty is six separate shoplifting cases.
In plea bargains for each of the six filings, 33-year-old Frank Douglas Gardner admitted guilt to three felony counts of retail theft and three misdemeanor counts of theft by deception. The thefts occurred on four consecutive days last December and two consecutive days last April.
Gardner had another retail theft case pending in court, from June of this year at the Burrell Township Walmart store. He was also one of 26 alleged mid-level drug dealers rounded up in a county-wide drug sweep last month. In the drug cases, which are from May and June of 2015, he is charged with two counts of possession with intent to deliver and conspiracy to the same offense, along with simple possession.
Also in Indiana County Court today, 22-year-old Jelahn William of Philadelphia will be sentenced for a guilty plea to burglary and escape, with additional offenses including aggravated assault not prosecuted, for a case from last March in which he was caught in the act of burglarizing an apartment on Park Place in Indiana. After being taken into custody, he twice tried to escape despite being handcuffed.
33-year-old Jeffrey Smith of Indiana will be sentenced for endangering the welfare of a child. He and Marybeth Roush of Indiana were supposed to be watching a 6-year-old girl last March in White Township when they both overdosed on heroin. Roush was sentenced to three years probation for the same offense.
26-year-old David Eberhardt of Portersville, Butler County, will be sentenced for receiving stolen property, in August of last year.
43-year-old Robert Ohler Jr. of Ford City will be sentenced for possession with intent to deliver.
Finally, jury selection will begin today for 26-year-old Danish Ali of Indiana, who is charged with recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, defiant trespass, and harassment in a case from April of this year in Indiana Borough. A felony charge of aggravated assault was dismissed in magisterial district court. On Friday, Ali filed a motion for admittance into the county’s ARD program.
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