Columbus men guilty on drug count; kidnap charge dropped in Lisbon incident
By MARY ANN GREIERLISBON - Two Columbus men charged with kidnapping and drug possession after a traffic stop in Lisbon earlier this year have been sentenced to prison with the kidnapping charges dropped.
Marvin Spencer, 28, was sentenced to three years in prison for a first-degree felony count of possession of drugs and ordered to forfeit $2,790 to the state of Ohio.
His co-defendant, Bruce Newby Jr., 27, was sentenced to two years in prison for a third-degree felony count of possession of drugs and ordered to forfeit $2,330 to the state. He and Spencer each received credit for 119 days already served in the county jail since their initial arrest on March 2. The money ordered forfeited was on them at the time of their arrest.
Spencer appeared before Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge C. Ashley Pike, who suspended his license for six months. Newby appeared before Judge David Tobin and had his license suspended for two years.
The kidnapping charges, both first-degree felonies, were to be dismissed.
The incident occurred March 2 when Lisbon Police received an anonymous call between 9:30 and 10:10 a.m. claiming a man was being held against his will by other persons in a white GMC truck near Saltwell Road and McDonald's on state Route 45 in Lisbon. The caller suggested narcotics might be inside the vehicle, court documents said.
Police and county Drug Task Force agents initiated a traffic stop in the McDonald's parking lot where they found Spencer and Newby with the driver and truck owner, Robert White of Lisbon.
All three men indicated no one was being held against their will, a DTF press release said at the time, but the indictment alleged Spencer and Newby restrained White's liberty so they could facilitate the commission of a felony related to possession of drugs.
The kidnapping charge and the first-degree felony drug charge each carried a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Documents said Spencer possessed more than 25 grams but less than 100 grams of crack cocaine, along with the cash to be used to finance transportation to Columbus and back to Columbiana County and to purchase cocaine. Newby possessed more than five grams but less than 10 grams of crack cocaine, along with the cash.
Also in Common Pleas Court:
Sheryl Colgrove, 35, of 900 Valley Ave., Salineville, was placed on a treatment plan for five years after her motion for intervention in lieu of conviction was granted and she pleaded guilty to possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony. She received credit for 39 days served in the county jail. Documents said she possessed cocaine in East Liverpool in March 2007.
Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net
