Hillsboro man sentenced to prison for failure to comply
A Hillsboro man accused of eluding police before eventually hitting the historical bell in front of the Highland House Museum last year was recently sentenced to prison.
As previously reported, Joshua L. Arnold, 34, was indicted in January on four charges, including failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, a third-degree felony; grand theft of a firearm, a third-degree felony; unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, a first-degree misdemeanor; and receiving stolen property, a first-degree misdemeanor.
According to court records, Arnold pleaded guilty May 17 to the failure to comply charge, with the remaining three charges dismissed.
As previously reported by the Hillsboro Police Department, on Nov. 10 at approximately 8:01 p.m., as part of an ongoing theft investigation on an individual with outstanding warrants, an officer with the Hillsboro Police Department attempted a traffic stop in the 300 block of East Main Street. The driver, identified as Arnold, allegedly continued traveling westbound in a silver 2007 Ford Edge after being given visible and audible signals to stop.
Arnold allegedly accelerated at a high rate of speed toward the intersection of East Main and East Streets, failing to obey a traffic control device. Arnold allegedly entered the intersection, striking a southbound vehicle that was spun around, and striking another vehicle sitting stationary eastbound.
Arnold’s vehicle then allegedly struck the same vehicle head-on before traveling into the front median of the Highland House Museum, striking the historical bell and hitching post before coming to rest.
Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss sentenced Arnold to a definite determinate term of 18 months in prison. Arnold was also ordered to pay restitution and court costs, while his driver’s license is to be suspended for three years beginning May 17.
The 18-month sentence imposed in Highland County is to run consecutively to a previous sentence from Clinton County. According to court records, Arnold was sentenced to 11 months in prison for two separate cases — for theft and for failure to appear — in Clinton County Common Pleas Court.
Arnold has been incarcerated in the Grafton Correctional Institution since Dec. 15, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.