Jury finds Hillsboro man guilty of endangering children, not guilty of manufacturing meth

A Hillsboro man charged with having a meth lab in his house with four children was found guilty on four counts of child endangering Thursday in Highland County Common Pleas Court. However, the jury found him not guilty on one first-degree felony charge of illegal manufacture of drugs. 

David Bailey was indicted on the charges in November, following a Sept. 24 fire in his home in the 100 block of Pleasant Street in Hillsboro. 

Casey Scarberry was also charged in the incident with four counts of child endangering, felonies of the third degree, and manufacturing drugs, a felony of the first degree. On Monday, Scarberry entered into a plea agreement with the Highland County Prosecutor's Office. Scarberry testified against Bailey in Thursday's trial, and as a result the charge of manufacturing drugs was dismissed. The state has recommended that she be placed on community control and that she enter the STAR program. 

 A 9-year-old child who was at home when the fire started also testified Thursday. 

 The 9-year-old, along with a 7-, 4- and 3-year-old were at the two-story home when the fire started. 

 The jury began deliberations around 4:30 p.m. and returned the verdicts just before 6 p.m.

 Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss proceeded to sentencing immediately, once the jury was dismissed. 

 Bailey faced a maximum sentence of five years on each count of child endangering, along with a $10,000 fine for each count.

 Assistant Highland County Prosecutor David Henry asked that Bailey

be sentenced to two years on each count, to be served consecutively. 

 "Meth labs are growing rampant in Highland County and across the state of Ohio," Henry said, and noted the danger it had put the children in.

 Bailey's attorney Jim Boulger, of Chillicothe, said that state mandates require a two-year minimum sentence on the child endangering charge, but he asked that Coss make them concurrent. 

 Bailey told Coss, "I loved them kids. I don't think I should go to prison for it."

 Coss said that it didn't appear to be in question that Bailey attempted to get, and successfully got, the children out of the house before they were harmed. But there was the potential that the children could have been killed, and his actions put them in that danger. 

 It was noted in the court that Bailey had previously served a prison term, which was not related to drugs, but he had been charged with manufacturing drugs, which was subsequently dropped. 

 While fire investigation showed that the cause of the fire was related to the manufacturing of meth, the defense alleged that Bailey was not manufacturing it; rather, a friend of his was.

"It is appropriate to impose a sentence for each victim in this offense," Coss said. "But you, and Miss Scarberry, put those children in danger. This court heard testimony that she wasn't much of a mother. Clearly there was meth activity in that house."

 Coss sentenced Bailey to two years on each of the four counts, to be served consecutively, for a total of eight years in prison. He had been in court in the custody of the Highland County Sheriff's Office, and the sentence is to begin immediately. 

 Because the sentence is mandatory, Coss said that Bailey will not be eligible for early release. 

 Scarberry is scheduled to be sentenced in March. 

 Following the court proceedings, Henry told The Highland County

Press that "the jury did its job and we're pleased with the result."