Bainbridge man sentenced to prison for conveying drugs into Greenfield jail
A Bainbridge man was sentenced this week to a year and a half in prison after pleading guilty to conveying drugs into the Greenfield jail.
Roger Fillmore, 43, was indicted in August and charged with illegal conveyance of weapons, drugs or prohibited items onto the grounds of a detention facility or institution, a third-degree felony; trafficking in cocaine, a fifth-degree felony; and possession of cocaine, a fifth-degree felony.
According to court records, Fillmore pleaded guilty to the conveyance charge in November.
For that count, a bill of particulars alleges that on or about July 6, Fillmore was arrested by Greenfield police officers following a traffic stop for a fictitious plate and driving with a suspended license. Drugs were also allegedly found during the traffic stop.
According to the bill of particulars, Fillmore was “uncooperative and did not want to remove his clothing” when officers attempted to perform a strip search in his cell. It was eventually determined that Fillmore was allegedly concealing two bags of cocaine in his underwear.
Following his guilty plea, Fillmore underwent screenings to enter the drug court docket. However, at the plea hearing Dec. 3, Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins argued in favor of prison instead.
“He was not compliant with pretrial supervision at all,” Collins said. “I’m not sure that he ever reported [to the probation department] while on pretrial supervision. He has had the availability of treatment on several occasions and has not complied with any of that.
“Every single time he’s placed on community control, he violates it.”
It was also noted that Fillmore’s guilty plea in this case signified a violation of the terms of community control in a previous receiving stolen property case in Highland County Common Pleas Court.
Defense attorney Kathryn Hapner argued that Fillmore “does have a fairly lengthy history” in the court system, but “that’s exactly what drug court is for.
“I don’t think there’s any question that drugs are an issue for him,” Hapner said. “This would be a good opportunity for him.
“If he is successful with drug court, I think everyone comes out a winner. If he is not successful, then he has nobody but himself to blame, so I don’t see the harm in giving him an opportunity to prove himself in drug court.”
Fillmore told the judge he “didn’t realize he was still on probation” from a previous case and apologized.
Judge Rocky Coss said Fillmore’s comment “bothers” him and that he “doesn’t believe” Fillmore due to the explanations given in court and various orders issued regarding the terms of probation.
“It’s just not true,” Coss said. “As indicated, you weren’t compliant with pretrial supervision, and then I ended up having to order you to be arrested because I told you to go to the probation department directly from court, and you didn’t. In the view of the court, I don’t really see that there’s anything in this situation other than you trying to stay out of prison.
“I think that’s the goal here. I don’t think that it’s to get clean. You’ve never done well on supervision.”
Coss sentenced Fillmore to 18 months in prison on the conveyance charge, with jail time credit of 27 days. The judge also revoked community control in the receiving stolen property case, for which Fillmore was sentenced in 2022. Coss imposed an additional six-month sentence in the Highland County Justice Center to run concurrently to the new sentence.
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