Leesburg man sentenced to prison on 3 charges
A Leesburg man was sentenced to over two years in prison Friday after pleading guilty to charges in two separate indictments in Highland County Common Pleas court.
Dylan Harner, 25, was indicted by a Highland County grand jury in January and charged with one count each of receiving stolen property and identify fraud, both fourth-degree felonies, as well as one count of theft, a fifth-degree felony. In June, he was again indicted on a fourth-degree felony count of failure to appear in connection with the previous indictment.
A bill of particulars filed with the case says that in October 2022, an area individual reported that an Audi had been stolen from his home. A Highland County sheriff’s deputy found the vehicle parked up against a mobile home a little over a week later and obtained a search warrant. Officers were advised that Harner had stolen the vehicle but had fled from the scene when officers arrived.
Harner’s then-girlfriend, Avalon Rich, was arrested at the scene. She has since pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property and been sentenced to community control.
The bill of particulars alleges that in January, Harner was communicating with Rich while she was in jail at the Highland County Justice Center. An officer heard Harner advise that he had “broken into a car and used the person’s credit card” to pay for Rich’s bail. It is alleged that Harner used the banking information of the victim, from Greene County, to withdraw $1,500 from the victim’s bank account at a Highland County bank branch.
Highland County Sheriff’s officers received a tip from a Leesburg police officer about Harner’s location and found him hiding in a shed. At that time, Harner was found to have the victim’s sunglasses, wallet, ID and money, the bill of particulars says.
According to court records, Harner pleaded guilty to the fourth-degree felony charges in the first indictment in April, then failed to appear for his sentencing. He pleaded guilty to the failure to appear charge Aug. 11.
Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss sentenced Harner to nine months in prison on each count, to run consecutively, for a total of 27 months in prison. Harner had 23 days of jail time credit, all from the first case.