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Woman, on the run for nine years, gets probation for low level felony
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Judge Lou D’Apolito said Wednesday he was not sure if the warrant for Kathy Clawson would have caught up to her after it was issued in 2006, when she failed to show up for a court hearing on a low-level felony charge of breaking and entering.
But in the nine years she was gone Clawson stayed out of trouble and got herself off drugs. She returned to Ohio and turned herself in on the warrant and was sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to a year probation.
Judge D’Apolito said Clawson’s conduct while she was with family in Texas, the fact that she weaned herself off drugs, and that a man who was with her at the time of the breaking and entering told police Clawson had nothing to do with the crime, factored into his decision. But he did say if she failed to live up to the terms of her probation, she will go to jail for the time she didn’t serve on the charge.
“I gave you a chance today. I gave you a break.” Judge D’Apolito said. “But if you don’t follow through I’ll have to correct that.”
Clawson, 51, chose not to address the court as she was sentenced. She pleaded guilty to the charge, a fifth degree felony, June 30.
She was arrested with another man in March 2006 in a break-in at a Wilson Ave. scrap yard. She served 82 days in jail and then was released by former Judge Maureen Cronin.
She failed to show up for an Oct. 3, 2006, pretrial hearing and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
Assistant Prosecutor Shawn Burns said Clawson was with family in Texas who helped her to get sober. Burns said Clawson told authorities she skipped the hearing because she was afraid.
Clawson’s lawyer, Chris Maruca, said Clawson is taking care of her mother, who is in her 80s, and has started her own business. Maruca said his client is undergoing regular drug tests on her own for the court, and in an answer to a question from the judge, Clawson said she goes to AA meetings three times a week but is not now in a drug treatment program because she does not have insurance.
“She’s had six years of sobriety,” Maruca said. “She’s done everything she needed to do and that will continue. She’ll continue to do that [treatment] whether there’s a court order or not. She lives one day at a time.”
Burns said a concern for him is that she continue treatment for substance abuse.
“I would acknowledge this defendant is in a good place now, but there are some issues in her past that do cause us a concern in terms of substance,” Burns said.
Judge D’Apolito said what made the most difference in how he handled the case was the fact that she really had nothing to do with the crime. The man who was charged with her pleaded guilty to an amended misdemeanor charge of receiving stolen property before Judge Cronin and received a suspended jail sentence.