Chillicothe man pleads guilty to telecommunication harassment against Adena President

CHILLICOTHE — A Chillicothe man has pleaded guilty in a case of telecommunication harassment where officials say he targeted the Adeana Health Systems president.

Hoyle Bowman III, 42, was found guilty of misdemeanor telecommunication harassment after he accepted a plea deal.

Records from the Ross County Sheriff's Office say that Bowman made threats against Adeana Health Systems president Jeff Graham. These threats include giving directions online to a location and telling someone to "put a bullet" in his head and also targeting his wife. The Grahams told officers they were worried someone would follow through with these threats.

Detectives later tracked the IP address of the creator of the online post to Bowman. According to reports, Bowman is a former Adena employee who worked at the facility for around three years. During questioning, Bowman initially denied posting any of the messages but later said he did post them while intoxicated. He stated that he felt "ashamed" a few days after posting and went online to remove the content where he saw it had already been taken down.

During the initial arraignment, Bowman pleaded not guilty to the charges of telecommunication harassment and menacing. The case was set to go to trial but Bowman later took to the plea deal offered by the state on April 13. In this plea deal, which Chillicothe assistant law director Jason Miller said was made with the victim's consent, the state dropped the second charge of menacing.

During the pre-trial Graham did not speak but Miller said he had spoken extensively with the victims and that they agreed to the terms of the plea deal and that they did not seek jail time for Bowman. Miller, however, did call the actions of Bowman "disturbing" and stated that physical threats are taken seriously.

Attorney Andrew Anastasi, who was defending Bowman, said his client is fully prepared to take responsibility for his actions and that he regrets his actions. He also said this event has led to his client starting counseling. When asked if he had any comments Bowman cried as he talked about what he called the worst mistake of his life.

"I'm sorry to the Grahams," said Bowman. "They didn't deserve it."

Chillicothe Judge Toni L. Eddy found Bowman guilty and sentenced him to a $100 fine, two years of community control, 200 hours of community service, anger management counseling and mental health counseling. He will also be subjected to testing to ensure he has no drug or alcohol consumption.

Shelby Reeves is a reporter for the Chillicothe Gazette. You can email her at SReeves@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @Shelby_Reeves_

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Chillicothe man pleads guilty to tele harassment against Adena CEO