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Minor in former pastor’s criminal case receives suspended sentence

COLUMBUS, Ind. (The Republic) — A local man who was the unidentified minor in the contributing-to-the-delinquency conviction of former pastor Justin White has been released from the Bartholomew County Jail and placed on probation.

The now-20-year-old originally was scheduled by Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge Jim Worton to be sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to possession of methamphetamine and conversion in unrelated cases on Oct. 30, court records show.

But instead, Worton sentenced him Nov. 7, the day the defendant’s pre-sentence investigation report was provided to the court by the Bartholomew County Probation office, court records state.

Bartholomew County Prosecutor Bill Nash said the sentencing was moved up because of concerns from the 20-year-old’s parents who were worried about his safety in the jail. The sheriff’s department checked into the allegations and determined them to be unfounded, but attorneys in the case agreed to move up the sentencing, Nash said.

The defendant received a one-and-a-half-year jail sentence, which was suspended, and a 180-day Bartholomew County Jail sentence, which was waived for time already served, court documents state.

For more on this story, see Thursday’s Republic.

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