Man revived in Wal Mart bathroom gets probation
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Family and friends were worried about Michael Ghiates as he was about to be sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on his third possession-of-heroin charge since 2014.
But no one’s worrying could top that of his mother.
“I used to come home on my lunch break every single day to make sure he wasn’t on the floor,” she told Judge Anthony D’Apolito.
Ghiates, 32, had to be revived Oct. 19 by paramedics with the opiate-reversal antidote Narcan after he passed out from taking heroin in the bathroom of the Austintown Walmart. Judge D’Apolito sentenced Ghiates on Tuesday to three years’ probation and ordered him to continue a regimen of treatment and counseling he has been receiving since he was released from jail on charges of possession of heroin, possession of drug paraphernalia and inducing panic.
A pre-sentence investigation had recommended probation with treatment at Community Corrections Association. Ghiates, however, asked not to be sent to CCA, saying he was sent there twice and both times he failed so miserably he ended up in prison.
He said the treatment he is now receiving is working. It includes a shot once a month of the drug Vivitrol, which blocks the opioid receptors in the brain.
Ghiates said this is the best he has felt in a long time.
“I have no more cravings,” Ghiates said.
Judge D’Apolito asked Ghiates why he was at Walmart and why he did not go to the parking lot to inject himself. Ghiates said he had to get needles, and “it’s the only place in Youngstown” to get them.
“Were you that fixated and needed a hit so bad that you couldn’t wait?” the judge asked.
“Yes, sir,” Ghiates replied.
Again, Ghiates pleaded not to be sent back to CCA. He said he has a job now and a car. If he went to CCA, he would lose the job, something that was hard for someone with several felony drug convictions to get.
Ghiates’ mother told the judge she and her son will be staying with her brother in rural Mercer County and that Ghiates has a good support system.
Judge D’Apolito said he was concerned Ghiates was using Vivitrol as a crutch or a miraculous cure. But Ghiates said he has passed every drug test he has taken, and he does not want to change his routine.
The judge agreed to allow him to continue his regimen, but he also added random drug screens from the parole authority.
“I want to make sure when you walk out of here I’ve done everything I can to make you successful,” Judge D’Apolito said.