Court/Criminal

Steven Earl McWilliams, 33, of Louisville, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree escape Feb. 7 in LaRue Circuit Court.

McWilliams was serving a four-year sentence for complicity to burglary of Hometown IGA when he walked away from the LaRue County Detention Center last July. He was captured a couple of weeks later in Shepherdsville.

McWilliams was sentenced to five years to be enhanced to six years as a persistent felony offender. He was also fined $385.

A Hodgenville woman, already facing a misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault, compounded her problems when she allegedly assaulted a corrections officer at the LaRue County Detention Center.
Rachel McConnell, 28, was arrested Jan. 27 on the original assault charge. She became combative inside the jail and bit a jail employee’s arm, according to court records.
Assaulting a corrections officer is a felony.
Her bond was set at $9,500 full cash.

Jennifer Rose Priddy, 30, of Elizabethtown, a former employee of Dr. Douglas L. Baumgardner, was sentenced to 30 days in county jail and ordered to reimburse the practice $18,069.04.
Priddy pleaded guilty to one count each of theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception over $300.
The Commonwealth Attorney recommended five years incarceration. The sentence was diverted and final sentencing was conducted Jan. 3 in LaRue Circuit Court.
The case will be reviewed July 18.

Five people were arrested Jan. 26 when officers found a meth lab in an Upton home.
Paul Anthony LaGrega Jr., 36; Althea Hope Blan, 41; and Jonathan Louis Blan, 18, all of Cedar Street, were each charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, first offense; unlawful possession of meth precursor; possession of controlled substance; trafficking in controlled substance; possession of marijuana; buy or possession of drug paraphernalia; possession or use of radio that sends and receives police transmissions; and first-degree cruelty to animals.