Kinsman man who falsified documents won’t serve extra jail time
Staff report
WARREN
Keith Chandler of Kinsman, who has spent the p ast two weeks completing his 90-day Trumbull County jail sentence for falsifying documents to get Purple Heart license plates, won’t get extra time for a separate violation in Lake County.
Chandler, 35, stood before Judge Ronald Rice of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Thursday for a probation-violation allegation, but the judge determined that Chandler was not guilty.
Chandler pleaded guilty last June in Painesville Municipal Court in Lake County to falsification after he was accused of fraudulently attempting to obtain insurance money to perform construction work on a Madison Township church.
The offense took place between his Trumbull County guilty plea and sentencing, said Chuck Morrow, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor.
That means Chandler had not yet been informed of the terms and conditions of his probation and therefore could not be held accountable for violating them, Morrow said.
Chandler pleaded guilty before Judge Ronald Rice in March 2015 to seven counts of tampering with records and one count of forgery for tampering with his military discharge papers in 2009 and tampering with Ohio BMV records in 2011, 2012 and 2013 to get the free plates.
An appeal put his jail sentence on hold until a decision to uphold his conviction was rendered. He began serving the remainder of his 90-day sentence March 17.
During testimony at Chandler’s sentencing, testimony was given that he suffered injuries while serving with the Marine Corps in the Middle East in 2003 that could have made him eligible for a Purple Heart.