An Indiana man was sentenced yesterday for a case where he was charged with assaulting a state trooper in 2021.
31-year-old Charles B. Ross of Indiana was ordered to serve up to five years in state prison and to pay fines and court costs by Indiana County President Judge Thomas Bianco during a sentencing hearing on Friday. Police said that on August 7th of 2021, they were called out to a location on Old William Penn Highway in Burrell Township for a report of a man behaving erratically. When police arrived, Ross admitted that he was high on methamphetamine, but refused to comply with their verbal commands. During the incident, he tried to run into traffic and get himself hit by oncoming traffic. As police were taking him into custody, Ross resisted arrest and tried to assault the troopers, kicking one of them in the head.
For the aggravated assault, he was ordered to serve up to five years in prison, and up to two years for the resisting arrest charge. Judge Bianco ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
Also sentenced yesterday was a Marion Center man for two cases, including a case of assault from New Year’s Day in 2022. State Police at the time said they were called out at 4:33 that morning for an assault involving 34-year-old Jeremy Lute and his girlfriend. A 14-year-old Indiana girl tried to intervene and Lute hit the young girl before going into a wooded area before being confronted by state troopers. Police said he was intoxicated at the time. For a guilty plea to simple assault, he was ordered to serve two years of probation.
Lute was also sentenced in a second case for guilty pleas to charges of fleeing police, DUI, driving on a suspended license and obstruction of justice. He will serve up to five years in Indiana County Jail for all the charges, and the sentence will run concurrently with the probation from the assault case.
