Man jailed for trying to use stolen check
A 22-year-old Troy TROY — man who attempted to use a stolen check to buy a $33,500 Mustang among other offenses was sentenced Monday to a year in prison by a judge who said previous efforts at treatment and supervision appeared only to be “interrupting his lifestyle.”
Colin Messler pleaded guilty Aug. 28 in Miami County Common Pleas Court to felony theft, forgery and receiving stolen property.
He was charged with grand theft involving the car and a check stolen from a relative this spring. An employee of the Erwin vehicle dealerships of Troy told sheriff ’s detectives Messler provided the check and a person Messler had him call to verify the check said he approved of the purchase. The check did not clear, and the owner said the account was closed.
Messler also was charged with receiving stolen property and forgery for stealing a Bradford area man’s credit card and using it for a series of purchases totaling more than $500.
Defense lawyer Jon Paul Rion asked Judge Christopher Gee to consider a proposal by Messler’s family to send him to Montana for participation in a ranch-setting treatment program.
Messler said he took full responsibility for his actions and said his past lifestyle “is not the life I want anymore.”
Janna Parker, an assistant county prosecutor, said Messler’s criminal history, multiple victims, failure to complete previous supervision requirements and the fact he was on probation when these crimes were committed pointed to the need for prison time.
The proposed treatment program would remain an option following prison release, she said, adding, “What comes first are consequences.”
Gee said Messler had successfully completed the Monday treatment program in Montgomery County in 2015, but had compiled multiple violations of supervision since first appearing in his court in 2015.
“It just appears Mr. Messler, quite frankly, treated community control like it was a somewhat annoying interruption in his lifestyle,” Gee said. “I don’t know what the answer is ... This is a very challenging situation.”
Gee told Messler he was fortunate to have strong family support, something not often seen in the courtroom. “You have cast it off .... consistently,” the judge said.
Messler was sentenced to a year in prison and given credit for 52 days served in the county jail. He was ordered to pay court costs and $2,557 restitution to the Erwin dealership for expenses associated with the towing and repairs to the Mustang. Staff Writer
The trial of a LEBANON —
South Lebanon man who could face the death penalty if convicted of murdering his sister began Monday in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
Judges Joe Kirby, Donald Oda II and Robert Peeler, rather than a jury, will decide if Christopher Kirby, 38, should be sentenced to death for allegedly murdering his adoptive sister, Deborah Power, and badly beating her husband, Ronnie Power, at the home they shared with Kirby, his wife and children in South Lebanon.
“This is really a story about drugs,” defense lawyer John Kaspar said during opening statements.
Kirby is charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, murder, felonious assault, grand theft and tampering with evidence.
He is alleged to have committed these crimes in September 2017 to fund his and his wife’s heroin habit after Deborah Power changed the password on her bank card.
In April, Jacqueline “Jackie” Kirby, 31, was sentenced to three years on probation for her part in the case and ordered her to enter the Women’s Recovery Center, an outpatient substance abuse program in Xenia.
On Monday morning, Assistant County Prosecutor John Arnold said the extended family, all living in the South Lebanon home where the alleged crime occurred, relied on Social Security payments.
“The only source of income for the household was Social Security,” Arnold said in his opening statement.
Arnold said prosecutors would show the three-judge panel that Kirby should be sentenced to death for his crimes.
“While he presented part of the story, it’s not the whole story,” Kaspar told the judges in his opening statement.
Kaspar said the case would also demonstrate the poverty of their conditions and “the vital importance of a $290 check.”
Prosecutors called the 911 operator who took the initial call from Kirby’s 8-yearold son after his parents had left in the Powers’ truck, allegedly leaving Ronnie Power with a bad head wound and Deborah Power’s body under blankets in a locked room.
A number of deputies were also called to begin to develop the chain of evidence designed to prove Kirby was guilty of the capital crime.
Testimony indicated that at the house, before being taken to the University of Cincinnati Hospital in West Chester, a bleeding Ronnie Power said he had fallen and hit his head.
The Kirbys were found later at the hospital in West Chester.
Testimony indicated they drove there after buying and using heroin in Cincinnati. Ronnie Power was initially treated at this hospital before being taken to another hospital.
The prosecutors also called a video expert to map the Kirbys’ movements after leaving the house, and LCNB bank officials testified to show the bank card number had been changed after Deborah Power visited the bank about her overdrawn account.
Still, Deborah Power had not mounted a formal complaint or filed a police report against her adoptive brother or his wife.
“She was going to address it and I guess get back to me,” said Christina Harris, manager of the bank’s South Lebanon branch.
The trial is to resume this morning and continue into next week.