Saturday, February 18, 2012
Staff report
WARREN
A visiting judge has reset a hearing for 1:30 p.m. March 16 for Thomas R. Altiere Jr., 32, of Royal Troon Drive Southeast on an allegation that he violated terms of his probation.
Altiere, son of Trumbull County Sheriff Thomas Altiere Sr., pleaded guilty in June to felony deception to obtain a dangerous drug.
Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court and the Trumbull County Adult Probation Department approved of Altiere participating in a program called Treatment in Lieu of Conviction.
The program allows a defendant to avoid conviction as long as he or she successfully completes treatment. If he follows his treatment, the case could be dismissed in about a year.
If a serious violation occurs, however, a different sanction can be imposed.
On Jan. 12, the probation department asked the court to schedule a probation-violation hearing, and Visiting Judge Richard D. Reinbold Jr. of Stark County was assigned to the case.
The hearing has been reset twice, having originally been set Feb. 6 and again Friday.
Probation officer Tracy Hunt said the nature of the alleged probation violation is not public record.
David Joyce, Geauga County prosecutor, who served as special prosecutor on the case, said Altiere’s offense was leaving his job as a security officer at St. Joseph Health Center and obtaining prescriptions and the drug Hydrocodone, a pain medication.