Chillicothe man sentenced in 2 Highland County cases
A Chillicothe man currently incarcerated on charges out of Ross County was recently sentenced to prison in connection with two Highland County cases.
As previously reported, Thomas Jeffery Parks, 52, was indicted by a Highland County grand jury in March 2022 and charged with one count of failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, a third-degree felony. In December, he was again indicted, this time on a fourth-degree felony failure to appear charge in connection with his other Highland County case.
According to court records, Parks pleaded guilty to both charges March 10.
For the failure to comply charge, a bill of particulars alleged that in January 2022, a Hillsboro police officer attempted to make a traffic stop after receiving a report that Parks had allegedly stolen merchandise from an area business.
It is alleged that Parks drove around the police officers vehicle and drove down various Hillsboro streets at speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour, “nearly striking” other vehicles. Once Parks reached Chillicothe Avenue, it is alleged that he drove “at speeds in excess of 80 mph and also passed multiple vehicle in a no passing zone.”
It is further alleged that Parks failed to appear for a pretrial hearing in the case last October.
Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss sentenced Parks to a definite determinate term of 12 months in the failure to comply case, consecutive to six months in the failure to comply case, for a total of 18 months. Parks had jail time credit of 25 days in the failure to comply case. He was also ordered to pay court costs, and his driver’s license will be suspended for three years, according to court records.
The 18-month sentence imposed in Highland County is also running consecutively to a five-year prison sentence from Ross County. According to court records, Parks pleaded guilty in January to two counts of illegal conveyance of weapons, drugs or other prohibited items onto the grounds of detention facility or institution, a third-degree felony. Judge Matthew Schmidt sentenced Parks to 30 months on each count, running consecutively, for a total of five years in prison.
Parks has been incarcerated in the Noble Correctional Institution since Jan. 20, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.