On Friday October 2, Common Pleas Court Judge Otho Eyster sentenced four men for various felony crimes and violations of community control supervision according to Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher.

Melvin Ray Fiske, 22, was convicted of burglarizing a Mount Vernon residence on June 16, 2008, and of stealing $15,433.53 in cash and personal property. Fiske was sentenced to a four year prison term and ordered to pay restitution to the victim. Thatcher said last June there were no suspects, but Detective Craig Feeney, Mount Vernon Police Department, submitted blood evidence collected at the residence to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation (BCI&I) for analysis. In May 2009, BCI&I notified Feeney that a search of Ohio’s DNA Index System revealed an association between the blood evidence and Fiske who was serving a prison term in the Lebanon Correctional Institution.

Steven M. Tomlin, 18, Mount Vernon, was convicted of burglarizing a Mount Vernon residence, on May 16, 2009. Tomlin was sentenced to a 17 month prison term and ordered to pay restitution to the victim. Thatcher said on May 17, Detective Dave McElroy and Patrolman Tim Durbin, MVPD, recovered electronics and other property stolen from the residence hidden in the camper where Tomlin and an accomplice Felicia D. Nelson, 18, were staying near Columbus Road. Thatcher said Nelson will be sentenced on November 6.

John E. Palmer, III, 18, was convicted of selling half a pound of marihuana to a confidential informant working for the MVPD, on March 23. Palmer’s 17 month prison sentence will remain suspended while he serves a three year term of community control supervision. The terms of Palmer’s supervision include a 90 day jail sentence and a six month driver’s license suspension. Detective Corporal Matt Dailey investigated the case.

On August 14, 2008, Glenn A. Royster, 60, Mount Vernon, was convicted of stealing a credit card and three checks and of forgery. Royster’s 11 month prison term was suspended while he served a three year term of community control supervision. Royster admitted to violating the terms of his community control supervision by consuming alcohol, on August 30. Thatcher said Royster will spend the next six months in the Licking/Muskingum Community Corrections Centers as the result of this violation.