Drug case delayed for former school board member
Former Akron official is in a detox facility, officials say.
Former Akron school board member John Otterman was granted a continuance in his drug case Friday.
Otterman is in a detox facility, court officials say.
Otterman will next be in Akron Municipal Court at 9 a.m. Feb. 27. Tom Bauer, his attorney, requested the delay and Judge Jerry Larson granted it.
Otterman, 57, has pleaded not guilty to possession of marijuana.
He was found unconscious Jan. 19 in the driver’s seat of a car on East Cuyahoga Falls Avenue after an apparent drug overdose. Paramedics used four doses of naloxone, an opiate overdose reversal drug, to revive him. He was taken to Summa Akron City Hospital for further treatment.
Police say they found a white substance that tested positive for fentanyl, an opioid used as a pain medication, in the car, along with the marijuana.
According to police, Otterman admitted to having the drugs. He faces a mandatory fine of $150 and a driver’s license suspension for up to five years on the possession of marijuana charge.
Otterman was issued an immunity form in lieu of arrest for the fentanyl. Ohio’s Good Samaritan Law offers immunity to people who overdose up to two times and want to seek assistance for their addiction.
Under the Good Samaritan Law, Otterman was required to undergo a drug screening by Feb. 19, a month after he was issued immunity.
Otterman resigned from the school board. The board has received 57 applicants to replace him.