Four people who were facing criminal charges in local courts have pled guilty and been sentenced on charges ranging from battery, drugs and drunk driving.
The Daily Journal has previously reported about these cases, and is sharing this update to give resolution to our earlier reporting on crime in the community.
Indy man to serve 3 years for battery, residential entry
An Indianapolis man will serve three years after he pled guilty to forcing his way into a Greenwood home and stabbing a man in 2020.
Joshua Michael Ford, 30, pled guilty to battery by means of a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony, and residential entry, a Level 6 felony, before Johnson County Circuit Court Judge Andy Roesener on Sept. 1. He was sentenced to three years in prison with an 820-day jail credit. He will ultimately serve 285 days in prison, online court records show.
In June 2020, Ford knocked on the door of a house in the 1400 block of County Line Road. When the homeowner answered the door, he forced his way into the home by pushing her out of the way, according to a Greenwood Police Department report.
Ford began hollering for a woman who was asleep in a bedroom at the house, according to the police report. The homeowner called out to her son, who was also asleep in the bedroom, for help, the police report said.
Once they came out of the bedroom, Ford pulled out a box knife, according to the report. An altercation took place in which the homeowner’s son swung a golf club at Ford, but Ford grabbed it and pulled the man closer, then stabbed him in his lower left side just above the belt line, the report said.
At that point, both men ran out of the house.
Police found the victim in a nearby yard, bleeding from his side. Officers set up a perimeter and called in a K9, which tracked Ford sitting in a nearby tree line. He told police he discarded the knife somewhere in the tree line, the report said.
Ford told police he was “seeing grandma,” and said the woman he went to the house for “called him over,” according to the report. When police asked Ford if he had stabbed anyone that day, he said he “might have.”
Franklin man to serve 6.5 years on drug charges
A Franklin man arrested during a drug raid on the Johnson-Shelby County line was sentenced for possession of methamphetamine.
Paul Rose, 61, pled guilty to meth possession, a Level 6 felony, in Shelby County Superior Court 1 on Sept. 14. As part of a plea agreement, a Level 6 felony charge of maintaining a common nuisance was dismissed, according to online court records.
He was sentenced the same day to about 2.5 years in prison, with the sentence being served consecutively to a four-year sentence given for an unrelated drug case, online court records show.
Rose was arrested along with three other Franklin residents after officers with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Shelbyville Police Department and Shelbyville Police SWAT Team served a search warrant on Dec. 14, 2021 at a home in the 8900 block of West State Road 44. The home had a Franklin address.
The search warrant, part of an extensive investigation by the Shelby County Narcotics Task Force, was to search for illegal narcotics and firearms in connection with the investigation. Police found methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl, along with six firearms, the news release said.
Indy man sentenced for drunk driving
An Indianapolis man who allegedly tried to run over his family members with a car in January is spending less than a year on probation.
Airick Leemonz Green, 43, pled guilty to operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and
endangering a person, a Class A Misdemeanor, before Johnson County Superior Court 3 Judge Douglas Cummins on Aug. 17. As part of the plea agreement, misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated were dismissed, according to online court records.
Green was sentenced the same day to one year in jail, the majority of which — 349 days — will be on probation. He received an eight-day jail credit, online court records show.
Deputies responded just after 7 p.m. Jan. 16 to the intersection of State Road 37 and Smith Valley Road on the report of a stopped car in the turn lane and people standing outside of it yelling. A nearby gas station employee told dispatch a woman came inside and asked them to call the police, according to a Johnson County Sheriff’s Office report.
As deputies approached the scene on Smith Valley Road, they noticed a car driving in reverse at high speeds pull into the gas station parking lot where three family members were standing. The driver of the car, later identified as Green, attempted to hit them with the car. He then got out of the car and a fight ensued, according to the report.
Deputies attempted to separate everyone involved but Green would not cooperate, so they handcuffed him. Green was bleeding below his eye and from his mouth, the report said.
Green became verbally aggressive toward officers and refused to stay still, at one point unbuckling his seat-belt in the patrol car and forcing his way out of the vehicle, according to the report.
The victims told deputies Green had been drinking for three days. One of them took over driving because Green was “all over the road,” according to the report, but pulled over on State Road 37 because Green was drunk and acting erratic. They walked to the gas station, and Green followed them in the car, the report said.
Indy woman sentenced for drunk driving
An Indianapolis woman will serve more than 100 days in jail after she pled guilty to driving drunk with a child in the car last year.
Theresa Huffman, 26, pled guilty to operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and endangering a person, a Class A Misdemeanor, before Johnson County Circuit Court Judge Andy Roesener on Aug. 25. As part of her plea agreement, charges of operating a motor
vehicle while intoxicated endangerment, resisting law enforcement using a vehicle, strangulation and two counts of domestic battery, all Level 6 felonies; along with two misdemeanor charges of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and a misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of an accident, were dismissed, according to online court records.
Huffman was sentenced the same day to one year in jail, 208 days executed in jail and 157 days suspended to probation. She received a jail credit of 104 days, so she will ultimately be incarcerated for 104 days, according to online court records.
Greenwood police responded to the 1400 block of Pencross Lane on Sept. 24, 2021 on a report of a disturbance. As police pulled onto the street, they observed a car leaving the area at high speeds and attempted to pull it over. The car, however, continued to drive through the neighborhood, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Johnson County Circuit Court.
When the car came to a stop a few streets away, Huffman exited the car with her hands up and told police she had been held against her will at a nearby home. She also accused two relatives of assaulting her, according to court documents.
Police smelled alcohol on Huffman, and said her speech was slurred, her balance was unstable and she had red and glassy eyes. Huffman told police she had been drinking earlier that evening, and consented to field sobriety tests, which confirmed she was intoxicated. Based on Huffman’s statements about when she arrived at the home and when police were first notified of a disturbance, police determined she had driven to the home drunk with a child in the car, court documents said.
Huffman said she went to the home so her relatives could watch a child while she went to work as a GrubHub driver. Relatives at the home told police when Huffman arrived, she appeared intoxicated. When she and the child entered the home, the relatives attempted to take away her keys because they did not want her to drive any further while intoxicated. She became upset and hit, choked and bit relatives in front of two children, according to court documents.
