WILMINGTON — A judge sentenced a man to a 30-month prison term after Clinton County jurors found him guilty of trafficking in heroin, fentanyl, and meth.
Ronald N. Sapp, 43, of Hillsboro, was accused of committing those crimes on the same date in January 2018 in Clinton County.
The jury returned “guilty” verdicts on all three counts in the original indictment. Sentencing occurred immediately after the two-day trial concluded.
Sapp “has a significant criminal history spanning nearly 25 years,” stated Clinton County Common Pleas Judge John W. “Tim” Rudduck.
Included in that criminal record is a prior drug trafficking conviction from Adams County in 1995 for which he completed probation.
Subsequently, the defendant committed three other drug-related felonies, and previously has served time in prison for both Highland and Fayette Counties Common Pleas Courts.
He successfully completed the STAR Community Justice Center program for the Highland County court but violated terms of community control in late 2013, leading to one of his prison terms.
In the current Clinton County case, Sapp violated terms of bond when he did not appear in court as ordered.
“While the STAR Community Justice Center has a bed opening for possible use by defendant, the court believes imposing community control sanctions would demean the seriousness of the defendant’s misconduct and not adequately punish defendant,” Rudduck wrote in his sentencing paper.
Sapp’s legal ability to drive a motor vehicle is suspended for five years.
At one point, prosecutors placed a negotiated settlement offer on the record, which the defendant declined to accept, leading to a jury trial.
He was granted credit toward the prison term for the 63 days he served in custody.
In an unrelated case, Bobbie Alan Pigg, 38, of Bellbrook, received a 15-month prison term for aggravated possession of drugs (F5) and for not showing up for a court hearing three different times (each instance an F4).
The contraband in the case was forfeited, and he must pay all court costs. The defendant was granted credit for 156 days served in custody.
• Nicholas Keith Brush Sr., 34, of the Wilmington area, convicted of aggravated possession of drugs (F5) and of failing to appear in court (F4), received a six-month jail term and was placed on community controls for two years. As a condition of his community controls, he must complete STAR programming. He received time credit for 72 days spent in custody.
• Paul D. Jernigan II, 22, of Wilmington, convicted of aggravated possession of drugs (F3), received a suspended six-month jail term and was put on community controls for two years. The judge granted him time credit for serving six days at the Clinton County Jail.
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
