IRONTON — A 19-year-old man from the Pedro area of Lawrence County will spend between five and seven-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to charges connected to a case in which he dragged an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper.
Gage L. Sly, of Clinton Furnace Road, pleaded guilty to felonious assault, tampering with evidence and felony resisting arrest. Lawrence County Common Pleas Court Judge Andy Ballard imposed the sentence this week.
The felonious assault charge centered on the trooper-dragging incident that led to Sly’s arrest. The plea resolved the case without a trial, with the tampering and resisting charges covering his conduct surrounding the same encounter with law enforcement.
Law enforcement officials have long warned that fleeing from a traffic stop puts officers, bystanders and the driver in grave danger, and this week’s sentencing underscores how seriously Ohio courts treat such conduct.
Sly will now serve his time in an Ohio prison, with the exact length of his stay set by parole authorities within the five-to-seven-and-a-half-year range imposed by the court. The sentence was handed down in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court in Ironton.