Commissioner avoids jail after special plea

TOLEDO (AP) -- A former northwest Ohio county commissioner was sentenced to two years of community control rather than prison on a charge that he tried to lure a teenage girl into his car.
Steven Baden also was fined $1,000 Wednesday by Lucas County Common Pleas Judge James Bates. He could have received six months to one year in prison and a $2,500 fine on a charge of attempted menacing by stalking.
Baden had entered an Alford plea in which he did not admit guilt but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him.
The judge told Baden that he found the accusation disturbing, but said a tougher sentence wasn't warranted because the defendant had no criminal record or history of similar behavior.
Baden, 39, of Hamler, declined comment during and after his sentencing. He entered his plea May 18, the same day he announced he was resigning as a Henry County commissioner.
A 14-year-old girl told police that she was walking in her Toledo neighborhood Jan. 31 when a man attempted to get her in his car. She gave police a description of the car and the license plate number. She also later identified Baden from a photo.
Baden was arrested Feb. 8 at the commissioners' office in Napoleon and later charged with menacing by stalking, a more serious offense than the charge in his Alford plea.
Baden told authorities he was lost in the area, trying to find Interstate 75.