A Findlay woman is going to prison after she stole a vehicle while drunk.
Heather Snodgrass, 42, was transported from the jail Monday to the courtroom of Wood County Common Pleas Judge Molly Mack.
Earlier this month she pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse or a combination of them (OVI), a third-degree felony.
On Jan. 27 shortly after 6 a.m., police were dispatched to the 1200 block of Countyline Street in Fostoria for the theft of an automobile.
The owner of the 2010 Dodge Journey told police he was parked when a woman approached him asking for a ride. He told her he didn’t have time and entered a store. When he exited, his vehicle was gone.
A store employee told police he had seen the woman enter the Journey and drive off.
An hour later, Seneca County sheriff’s deputies received a call for a female needing help on Township Road 84. The woman inside the stolen Dodge was identified as Snodgrass.
It was determined that she was under the influence of alcohol, and she had previously been convicted of OVI in 2019 in Allen County.
Snodgrass understands she needs treatment for her addiction and mental health issues, said defense attorney Justin Daler. He asked for a sentence that would allow treatment.
Mack said OVI sentences in Ohio are highly regulated.
Snodgrass stole and crashed a vehicle while under the influence, and had refused treatment, she said.
Mack sentenced Snodgrass to 30 months in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction with 60 of those days mandatory per state statute.
Snodgrass must pay restitution of $2,058 to the owner of the Dodge plus a mandatory $1,350 fine. Her license will be suspended for 15 years.
A second count of OVI and a charge of grand theft of a motor vehicle were dismissed.
