An Athens man, accused of taking money from an Athens woman to clean out a culvert but never performed the service, changed his plea to guilty Wednesday and was sentenced to prison.
Jason Simms, 39, was arraigned on several indictments for crimes that date back as far as 2011. He pleaded guilty to one count of theft from the elderly, one count of failure to appear to a pretrial hearing, one count of grand theft and one count of domestic violence.
He had previously pleaded not guilty to those charges, which are felonies of the fourth degree, according to the Ohio Revised Code.
“On June 1, 2011, Simms approached and offered to provide services to an elderly individual,” Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said in a news release. “Simms was paid for the services but did not deliver the services. ...Simms did borrow over $19,000 by deceiving the victim into believing that he would be receiving a large sum of money.”
In June 2012, Simms did not appear for a pretrial hearing for the case.
Judge L. Alan Goldsberry sentenced Simms to four and a half years in prison, according to the news release.
He will also serve five years of community control after his release and pay “more than $1,000 but less than $2,000” in restitution, Blackburn said in an email to The Post.
The domestic violence charge stems from an incident in January 2013 when Simms struck his girlfriend, according to the release, which notes that the couple was living together at the time and he caused her physical harm.
He was also convicted of domestic violence in Athens County Municipal Court in 2010.
According to booking documents, Simms is incarcerated in the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail.
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