Bond set at $200K for man with eight OVI convictions

Staff report

WARREN

A judge has set a bond of $200,000 for a multiple offender of operating a motor vehicle intoxicated.

The high bond comes two weeks after the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office got a $250,000 bond for a man with seven OVI convictions.

Ricky Slabaugh, 49, of West Main St. in Cortland, appeared for arraignment in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Friday on felony OVI and misdemeanor child-endangering charges.

Slabaugh pleaded innocent before Judge Andrew Logan and remained in the county jail. He has been convicted of OVI eight times. A memorandum filed with the court by Mike Burnett, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, says Cortland police arrested Slabaugh on Sept. 9 after he was in a traffic crash in which there were two passengers in his car, including a child.

At the time, Slabaugh was driving on a suspended license; the license had been suspended 13 times and he had been convicted of 13 previous moving violations.

Slabaugh’s blood-alcohol level was tested at 0.99, after the Sept. 9 accident. That is above the legal limit of 0.08, but Slabaugh also admitted taking several prescription medications, Burnett said.

Prosecutors are still awaiting results of a urine test to determine the level of drugs in Slabaugh’s system, Burnett said.