Thursday, July 24, 2008 11:10 PM CDT
Second failure to register sex offender address nets Mattoon man prison time
By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
dfopay@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — A Mattoon man agreed to prison time when he admitted that he failed for the second time to register his address with police as someone with a conviction for a sex offense.
Bill G. Farmer, 38, whose address at the time of his arrest was 301 DeWitt Ave., pleaded guilty to a charge of failure to register as a sex offender and received a three-year prison sentence.
Farmer was accused of failing to register his address with Mattoon police within five days of moving from Cowden in April. He was also convicted of a failure-to-register charge in Coles County in November, when he was placed on probation, and served a prison sentence for a sexual assault conviction in 1995, records show.
Circuit Judge Teresa Righter also included a $700 fine in the sentence. However, the judge denied Farmer’s request for a delay in when he had to begin his sentence; that request wasn’t part of the plea agreement that Assistant State’s Attorney Kerri Davis and Public Defender Lonnie Lutz recommended.
In other cases in court recently, negotiated guilty pleas were also entered by:
- Kreig N. Upton, 18, 1382 N. County Road 1320E, Lerna, to a burglary charge accusing him of entering Winnett Plumbing, Heating and Electrical in Charleston on Feb. 13 to steal from the business.
Upton was placed on probation for 2½ years with terms including payment of nearly $3,000 in restitution and a $750 fine, counseling and about a week in jail. More jail time was stayed, meaning he won’t have to serve it if he follows the rest of his sentence’s requirements.
Righter accepted a plea agreement that Assistant State’s Attorney Eric Neumann and Lutz recommended.
-Joel B. Malone, 22, for whom records listed addresses on 12th Street in Charleston and in Belleville, to a charge of possession of a controlled substance alleging he had a prescription medication on Oct. 20.
Malone received two years of what’s called “first offender” probation, which means he can avoid a record of a conviction if he completes probation successfully. Terms of his sentence included $,1200 in fines. Circuit Judge Mitchell Shick accepted the plea agreement, which Assistant State’s Attorney Mick McAvoy and defense attorneys Lutz and Chris Wetzel recommended.
- Christopher J. Mooney, 18, for whom records listed address on Ninth Street in Charleston and in Orland Hills, to a charge of delivery of cannabis accusing him of selling marijuana on the Eastern Illinois University campus on April 22.
Terms of Mooney’s two-year, first offender probation sentence include substance abuse treatment and $660 in fines. Shick accepted a plea agreement that McAvoy and Wetzel recommended. Cases are pending against four others also accused of selling marijuana on the EIU campus around the same time, but court records don’t indicate if the cases are related.
- Jesse C. Schwerdt, 28, 1504 Richmond Ave., Mattoon, admitted to violating terms of the probation sentence he received for an earlier drug conviction, and a more recent drug charge was dismissed.
Schwerdt received a new, one-year probation term for a methamphetamine possession conviction from July 2006, when he was originally placed on probation for two years. The charge that was dismissed accused him of having cocaine on Nov. 28. Shick accepted a plea agreement that McAvoy and Lutz recommended.
Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 348-5733.
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