Jail scuffle leads to prison term
May 18—Much of a long suspended sentence will now mean prison time for a defendant who followed up a criminal past with a recent confrontation with deputies in Garvin County's jail.
Chandler Griffith, 23, was recently given a 10-year prison term for four separate assault charges coming from an April 12 fight he had with four deputies while housed in the county jail.
Griffith was an inmate in the jail on allegations he had violated the conditions of a suspended sentence that was part of a 2016 conviction.
In that conviction for five counts to lewd acts with a child Griffith was sentenced to 25 years in prison with all but seven suspended.
During a recent hearing in a Garvin County District courtroom Griffith had five years of the sentence revoked, which is to run concurrent with the longer term.
This past February prosecutors moved to revoke Griffith's suspended sentence on multiple allegations, such as failing to notify a probation officer, not staying away from the consumption of alcohol or illegal drugs and committing an assault two years ago in Pottawatomie County.
As a convicted sex offender Griffith is alleged to have failed to stay away from places primarily used by children, not receiving permission from a probation officer to access the Internet and not staying away from pornographic material.
All of that landed Griffith in the county jail here as last month he got into an altercation with two deputies who came into his cell to move him.
Deputies reported Griffith told them he wasn't moving to another cell, which they said resulted in him using a closed fist to strike one of the officers multiple times.
Three more deputies got involved in trying to restrain Griffith as one is alleged to have been head-butted by the inmate.
----Forged checks over the last couple of years have led to a revoked suspended sentence and prison term for a Pauls Valley man.
A three-year prison sentence was given last week to Joseph Lee Barker, 29, who earlier this year was formally accused to committing thefts from mailboxes and vehicles in the area as a way to get personal information from unsuspecting victims.
The apparent goal was to steal books of checks and credit cards as a way to make fraudulent purchases.
Earlier this year Barker was charged with passing a $2,500 forged check, while in the summer of 2021 he was accused of a fraudulent check of just over $2,600.
After pleading no contest to the charges he was at first ordered to make restitution payments.
Based on the allegation Barker later used a police scanner in an unlawful manner, prosecutors were successful in getting part of his suspended sentence revoked as he was given three years in each case to run concurrent to each other.
----A whole lot of marijuana is what officers found in a vehicle stopped last week a few miles south of Pauls Valley.
The driver of that vehicle, 30-year-old Worsen Yebale Lemma, now faces three felony charges, including trafficking marijuana, filed in Garvin County District Court.
Court records show Lemma claimed he was simply looking for a profit as he drove the many carefully wrapped packages of marijuana back to his home in Texas.
Agents with a district task force made the Interstate 35 stop on May 10. They reported the driver, identified as Lemma, was "overly nervous" when they told him he was only receiving a warning for a traffic violation.
What those agents found in two large duffle bags were several trash bags with each containing smaller vacuum-sealed bags containing marijuana.
They report there was about one pound of the drug wrapped in each of the 71 bags.
"The defendant advised he purchased the marijuana in Oklahoma City and was transporting it back home to Austin, Texas to sell, along with sharing with friends and family."
Lemma was given a $25,000 bond as prosecutors in the case asked for that total to be $100,000. He was later released after the bond was posted.
