Municipal Court begins diversion therapy

BUCYRUS – Shane Leuthold, the new Crawford County Municipal Court judge, tells a story about a supermarket in Fostoria that retains a sheriff's deputy during business hours because the store is worried about not just shoplifters, but armed robbers.

"They were riddled with drug dealers, heroin, and Fostoria lost," Leuthold said. "Crawford County was not that far away from losing this war, and now we've got a grip on it. The tide has turned in favor of the good guys. But how is the county going to become stabilized where we don't fall back into that trap?"

To that end, Leuthold's court is trying something new – diversion therapy, where generally young, first-time, non-violent offenders are referred to a 12-month program of mentorship, community service and GED completion in lieu of conviction.

Leuthold, who is already working on building a reputation as a judge who's tough on crime, much as his brother Sean did before he left the Municipal Court bench to become the county's Common Pleas Court judge, is exceedingly quick to point out who will not be eligible for the diversion program.

"The people we're putting in the program are not going to be prison-eligible, and because they're first-time offenders, they're not going to get a lengthy jail sentence. We're trying to fix the people who are heading in that direction, to stop them before they become serious criminals," he said.

"There are some people who are too far gone, and they have to be removed from the community. We're not putting any felons in this program."

Mentors needed

The court's new diversion therapy program is only a couple of weeks old, with director Meggan Murphy still busy establishing contacts with various organizations in the county that might benefit from community service arrangements, or be willing to provide mentors for the program.

"It's kind of a win-win. The cost for the community to go this route is going to be less, and for the defendants as well. And hopefully, we'll get them set on the right path and deter future crimes. That's the whole goal of diversion," Murphy said.

"Later on when something presents itself to them they'll say, 'No, I'm not going to do that.' You only have one life. If you're going to keep messing it up, you're sitting in jail and it's gone."

Leuthold described a 19-year-old woman who has already been placed in the diversion program.

"She has a 7-month-old daughter, and her mom has an incredibly terrible record. She has no job, no high school diploma, and she gets caught shoplifting. But she has no criminal record, this was going to be her first," the judge said.

"There are shoplifting and parenting classes we're requiring her to take. If she works the program the conviction will go away like it never happened, which down the road will help her get jobs, student loans. Some of these convictions, even though they're low-level convictions, will disqualify you from ever getting a student loan."

While the Leutholds aren't hesitant about throwing the book at violent felons, particularly when they're convicted of drug-related crimes, the Municipal Court judge acknowledged that the long-term success of the diversion program will depend to a great extent on whether Bucyrus and the rest of Crawford County are ready to help something like this succeed.

Helping residents

Even if the county has stepped back from the precipice that Leuthold believes communities such as Fostoria have toppled over, it may still be an uphill battle.

"The people who are working hard, who are going to school and trying to better themselves, are generally leaving and not coming back. The people who grew up in homes where nobody ever did anything, those people are staying," Leuthold said.

"I grew up in this community and graduated high school in 1988, and the demographic then was completely different. With each cycle it keeps getting worse. Drive around town, look at the houses. Houses didn't look this bad back then. Our town is falling apart."

It's the people living in some of those houses that programs like diversion therapy are intended to reach.

"It's the way they were raised. It's what they see, it's what they know. They're just following along," Murphy said. "I think that's a huge dilemma. I think a lot of them have never been told no. They see that you can get by with not working. I think people just need to feel a little self-worth and learn a work ethic again."

Both Murphy and Leuthold have high hopes for the mentorship aspect of the diversion program. Within a short period of time, they have managed to recruit several people in the community willing to mentor program participants.

"We want them to do community service with professionals so they have to work hand in hand with them. You're socializing with a group of people that you never would've interacted with, and they're there to give you guidance," Leuthold said. "People who work full-time jobs rarely, if ever, commit crimes."

If the Municipal Court's new diversion therapy program succeeds, in time it could contribute toward a hoped-for trend of fewer abandoned buildings, more local employers filling positions that are presently sitting vacant, more degree-holding professionals choosing to make a life here instead of moving away.

But ultimately, he said, the initiative will come down to participants like that 19-year-old mother.

"She is exactly the person six months to 12 months from now who's going to try heroin out of frustration with life. And then we're going to have another junkie mom, and another child in the welfare system, and there we go," Leuthold said.

"Let's take that girl before she becomes that person and let's set her up on a road to a life where she won't ever try heroin in the first place."

To discuss becoming a mentor in Municipal Court's diversion therapy program, call program director Meggan Murphy at 419-563-1875.

thill3@nncogannett.com

419-563-9225

Twitter: @ToddHillMNJ