Woman pleads not guilty

 

The former Lawrence County Treasurer’s Office employee accused of stealing more than $2,000 in public money made her first appearance in common pleas court Wednesday.

Mindy Joseph, 30, of 568 Township Road 253E, Ironton, was arraigned on a bill of information of third-degree tampering with evidence, fourth-degree identity theft, fifth-degree theft and misdemeanor theft.

Joseph pleaded not guilty through her attorney Scott Evans.

Judge Charles Cooper continued the $25,000 bond previously set in Ironton Municipal Court and scheduled a pretrial for Aug. 15.

Joseph is accused of stealing $2,200 while she was employed at the treasurer’s office and, in a separate incident, with trying to take a fellow employee’s personal information to obtain a credit card for herself.

Joseph has since been terminated from employment with the county office.

In other cases:

• Earl Nixon II, 45, of 1735 Carolina St., Middletown, pleaded guilty to third-degree trafficking in drugs, fourth-degree aggravated trafficking in drugs, fourth-degree felonious assault and fifth-degree possession of dugs.

“I didn’t mean to cause you guys any problems,” Nixon said before sentencing. “I’m sorry. I apologize to the court.”

For trafficking in drugs, Cooper sentenced Nixon to 12 months in prison, ordered him to pay a $3,750 fine and suspended his driver’s license for five years. For aggravated trafficking in drugs, Nixon was sentenced to 12 months in prison and was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine. For possession of drugs, he was sentenced to 11 months in prison and ordered to pay a $1,250 fine.

Cooper ordered the drug charges to run concurrently.

The judge also sentenced Nixon to six months in prison for the felonious assault charge, which is to run consecutively to the drug charges for a total sentence of 18 months in prison.

Nixon was represented by attorney Warren Morford.

• Harry Norris, 22, of 405 Eden Lane, Pliny, W.Va., was arraigned on one count of illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs. Norris pleaded not guilty through his attorney Mike Gleichauf.

Cooper continued a $10,000 bond from a lower court, added a $50,000 own recognizance bond and scheduled a pretrial for Aug. 22.

• Jonathan Harmon, 29, of 311 Township Road 102, Ironton, pleaded guilty to second-degree complicity to burglary through his attorney, Warren Morford.

Cooper scheduled sentencing for Aug. 22

• Nicholas Kouns, 42, of 8416 Johnson Ford Road, Catlettsburg, Ky., was arraigned on fifth-degree counts of breaking and entering and theft from Alpha Welding and Fabricating. Kouns pleaded guilty through his attorney, John Kehoe.

Cooper sentenced Kouns to 11 months in prison for each count, to be served concurrently. The sentence will also run concurrently to Kouns’ five-year sentence at Webster County Detention Center in Kentucky.

• Gayla Roach, 24, of 1017 S. Eighth St., Ironton, was arraigned a count of fourth-degree trafficking in cocaine. Roach pleaded not guilty through her attorney, John Kehoe.

Cooper set bond at $25,000 cash or surety or $50,000 property and scheduled a pretrial from Aug. 15.

• B. Douglas Martin, 35, of 95 Private Drive 1552, South Point, pleaded guilty to fifth-degree possession of drugs, which was Xanax.

Cooper sentenced Martin to four years community control sanctions under intensive supervised probation, 90 days in the county jail, ordered him to pay a $1,250 fine and suspended his driver’s license for six months.

Martin was also represented by Kehoe.