WILMINGTON — A New Vienna man was given a prison term of 51 months after being found guilty of two counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle, and one count each of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and grand theft.

Marc Burch, 25, pled guilty to charges that alleged he stole a 2004 Mazda 6 and a 2004 Ford Explorer, that he used a 2007 Saturn Aura without the owner’s consent, and took a Smith & Wesson .380 Bodyguard firearm.

In a plea agreement, prosecution and defense counsel jointly agreed to recommend a 30-month prison term. But Clinton County Common Pleas Judge John W. “Tim” Rudduck stated he disagreed with their recommended sentence, describing it as “insufficient.”

Burch has “a troubling criminal history despite his young age of 25 years. He has previously served two prior prison terms for this court,” wrote Rudduck in his judgment entry filed with the clerk of courts.

In 2012, Burch was sanctioned to serve a 12-month prison term for a burglary conviction after violating terms of community control and bond on several occasions, according to the judge.

Three months after getting out of prison, in June 2013, Burch was trafficking heroin in Clinton County, stated court papers.

He was sentenced to prison for 24 months in October 2014 and released in summer 2016.

The multiple crimes Burch committed in the current case took place about five months after being released from prison.

Moreover, he has pending felony charges in Montgomery and Clermont Counties, both jurisdictions having issued warrants for his apprehension, said Rudduck.

The institutional report from the State of Ohio’s prison system “reflects very little if any programming completed [by Burch], but three full pages of rules infractions,” Rudduck wrote in his judgment entry.

Time credit was granted for 99 days spent in jail on the case. That leaves nearly four years of state prison time remaining from the pronounced sentence of 51 months of imprisonment.

Upon release from prison, Burch is ordered to reimburse four different victims for the amounts of $3,100, $1,958, $679 and $600, respectively.

Two other theft-related charges were dropped in the negotiated plea agreement. Burch is legally indigent, according to court papers.

At another recent sentencing hearing in the common pleas courtroom, Jason Allen Wallace, 41, of Cuba, Ohio, was sanctioned after he was convicted of tampering with evidence, failing to appear in court, and illegal open burning of solid wastes.

Wallace received a suspended six-month jail term, and was put on a two-year term of community controls which includes the requirement he enter and complete the four-to-six month programming as a custodial resident at the STAR Community Justice Center in Franklin Furnace, Ohio.

Rudduck, in his sentencing document, described Wallace as “a reluctant but ultimately willing participant” of STAR.

The illegal open burning convictions were pursued by two state assistant attorneys general in the Environmental Enforcement Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

The defendant was found guilty of open burning, without prior authorization of the Ohio EPA, of solid wastes, including carpet on July 14, 2015 and a couch on July 22, 2015. Both instances occurred on A Street in the unincorporated village of Cuba in Washington Township, Clinton County.

The illegal open burning convictions are designated as “unclassified felonies” — no degree is attached to the felony-level actions.

Rudduck stated Wallace has a history of poor decision-making, “something the STAR program can address.”

The judge added, “Despite multiple warnings to cease and desist from engaging in open burning of solid waste, defendant failed to comply. He refused to pay administratively imposed financial penalties.”

Time credit was granted for 32 days in jail.

If Wallace violates his community controls, he faces up to two years in prison, states court papers.

At a separate sentencing, a New Vienna man was ordered to make restitution in the amount of $85,474 in a grand theft case.

Steven M. Garen, 42, received a suspended 90-day jail term and was placed on community controls for five years. He spent three days in jail.

The grand theft charge is a felony of the fourth degree. There is one victim in the case.

Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.