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Home > Blogs > Dayton Courts: Legal and crime news > Archives > 2009 > August > 25
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Former Northmont teacher and coach pleads guilty to misdemeanors
DAYTON — Former Northmont High school teacher and coach Loren Meadows, accused of having sexual relations with a former student, pleaded guilty Tuesday, Aug. 25, to three counts of contributing to the unruliness of a minor.
All three counts are first-degree misdemeanors, punishable by up to six months in jail. There is no agreement as to sentencing. Under the plea agreement, Meadows will surrender his teaching license and coaching certificate. He has also agreed to never coach minors again.
Meadows appeared before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Katherine Huffman, who scheduled his sentencing for Sept. 23. The plea came six days after Meadows was convicted in Clinton County Municipal Court of misdemeanor resisting arrest.
Meadows, 35, who has resigned from the school district, taught social studies and served as assistant football coach and head boys and girls track coach.
Meadows was charged with having sexual relations with the student, a 17-year-old girl, according to Union police Chief Michael Blackwell. The offenses happened in April and May, when Meadows was both her coach and her teacher, Blackwell said.
The investigation began after Clinton County deputies discovered Meadows and the girl, both partially unclothed, in a car parked in front of a deserted house June 23. According to police, the Union resident gave a false age to officers and briefly wrestled with them.
Seven days later, Montgomery County prosecutors filed two counts of sexual battery, a felony, against Meadows. Those counts involved the same former student.
In the Clinton County case, misdemeanor charges of obstructing official business and contributing to the delinquency of a minor were dismissed, according to court records. Meadows was fined $375, plus court costs, sentenced to a suspended 30 days in jail and ordered on supervised probation for two years.
Assistant County Prosecutor Erin Claypoole told Huffman the victim, now 18, and her parents, had been consulted and found the plea agreement favorable.
Huffman allowed Meadows to stay free on his own recognizance, but ordered him to have no contact with the victim or any minors.
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Lawyer who caused standoff has license suspended, but given credit for time served under an interim suspension
DAYTON — The Ohio Supreme Court has suspended the license of a Dayton attorney who admitted firing a revolver at a police officer in January 2007, the court announced Tuesday, Aug. 25.
The court suspended Lee Howard’s license for two years, agreeing with findings by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline that Howard engaged in illegal conduct involving moral turpitude and conduct that adversely reflects on his fitness to practice.
Howard will be given credit for time already served since his interim suspension on Aug. 30, 2007. Under the court’s decision, he must successfully complete a mental health evaluation prior to reinstatement of his license.
The court noted that Howard practiced nearly 30 years of law practice without prior disciplinary infractions. The court also noted that, on the night of the incident, Howard had been awakened from a deep sleep by a spotlight being shined into his darkened home, and that the uniformed officer who entered his yard was obscured by the glare of his spotlight and did not identify himself as the police.
Howard, 59, pleaded guilty April 4, 2007 to felonious assault and inducing panic. He was sentenced to five years probation. Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Froelich also ordered him to get mental health and substance abuse treatment and to make restitution, including for the cost of the Special Weapons and Tactics team call out he caused.
Officer Jeff Hieber wrote in his incident report that he had found a stolen car in an alley behind Howard’s home, 133 E. Hudson Ave., when something whizzed near him and struck the ground.
A man appeared at a window of the house. Hieber wrote that he called for backup after someone then thrust a handgun out the window minutes later and fired once in his direction.
Howard was ultimately forced from his home by officers firing teargas.
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Missing woman: Turner told co-worker she wanted to end relationship with Barker
DAYTON — Shelly Sue Turner, missing since Sept. 2006, had tired of her relationship with Harold Barker, a friend and co-worker testified Tuesday, Aug. 25.
“She just wanted to end it,” Apache Page said.
Barker, 55, is on trial this week on charges of murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence. All charges deal with Turner’s disappearance. The trial, before Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara P. Gorman, started Monday.
Page and Turner worked together at the Valley Thrift store, 1717 Woodman Drive in Kettering, for about six months before Turner vanished Sept. 30, 2006.
During that time, Barker used to come in and stand around. He would rarely speak, but would watch Turner work, Page said.
“Did that strike you as strange?” assistant county prosecutor Janna Huber asked.
“Yes,” Page said.
Page and Turner worked together on Sept. 30, but Turner did not come to work on Oct. 3 for her next scheduled shift. But Barker showed up, Page said.
Barker told her that he and Turner had fought and that Turner left with some other guy named “Bill,” Page said.
Barker told police that he and Turner were outside Shag’s Tavern, 1926 Smithville Road, when a silver car pulled up outside the bar and someone yelled Turner’s name, according to a police incident report. Barker said Turner walked to the car, handed Barker his ring and left with a guy named “Bill,” according to the report.
Page said Barker came back a few times and asked about whether she had heard from Turner. But he seemed more concerned about whether police had been to the store and what investigators were asking, Page said.
On Barker’s final visit to the store, Page said, she asked him what ditch did he leave Turner in.
“He just gave me an overall strange look,” Page said.
Barker never returned after that, she said.
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Missing woman: Defendant said he would do ‘something bad’ before she disappeared
DAYTON — A week before his girlfriend vanished, Harold Barker told a bartender that he was going to do something that would return him to prison, the bartender testified Tuesday, Aug. 25.
“I could tell that he was extremely agitated and upset,” said Monica Davis, a bartender at Shag’s Tavern. “He told me he was going to do something bad and he was going to go back to jail.”
Davis said that Barker and Shelly Sue Turner were regulars at the bar, and that they usually came in every weekend. But this was the only time she ever saw Barker in the bar without Turner. He did not specify what “bad” thing he was going to do, Davis said.
Barker, 55, is on trial this week on charges of murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence. All charges deal with Turner’s disappearance. The trial, before Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara P. Gorman, started Monday.
Barker told police that he last saw Turner, 38, outside Shags Tavern, 1926 Smithville Road, on Sept. 30, 2006. Turner’s belongings, including her Ford Explorer, were found at her home. Her body was never found, but police have said they are certain she is dead.
Under cross examination, Davis said that Turner and Barker seemed happy together, and told her about a month earlier that they were engaged.
Assistant county public defender Mike Pentecost asked Davis about a police report, which quoted her as saying that Barker told her that he wasn’t upset with Turner. Davis said she did not tell police that, and that must have been a mistake.
Though she usually works Friday and Saturday nights at the bar, she was off Sept. 30, 2006, which was a Saturday, Davis said.
The bartender who filled in for her, Brittany Eads, and a regular customer, William Davis, both testified that they did not see Turner or Barker at the bar that night. Eads said she had never seen either one before, but that she recognized most of the customers that night. William Davis said that he had spoken to them briefly on previous occasions, but did not know them well.
Barker initially cooperated with police after Turner’s family reported her missing. He told police they were outside the bar when a silver car pulled up outside the bar and someone yelled Turner’s name, according to a police incident report. Barker said Turner walked to the car, handed Barker his ring and left with a guy named “Bill,” according to the report.
William Davis, who goes by Bill, testified that he did give a woman a ride from the bar that night, but it was not Turner.
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