Probationary terms were issued Thursday to two Columbia County men after pleading previously guilty to felony charges.
Ryan Ware, charged with breaking or entering and theft of property over $1,000 stemming from a series of January 2018 storage unit break-ins, as well as probation revocation, pleaded guilty and true, respectively, to the counts. His sentencing was initially delayed in order for the defendant to complete a lengthy stint at Wilderness Camp.
For the guilty plea, the 28-year-old Magnolian was sentenced to five years probation. He was also issued another five-year probationary term for pleading true to the revocation count.
Ware was one of multiple co-defendants involved in the Jan. 8-18, 2018, Magnolia Mini Storage break-ins. The total restitution was stated Thursday to be $47,130 among the defendants. Ware’s agreed restitution, as part of his plea deal, was $5,000.
In a separate criminal case on Thursday, Lee Otis Chambers pleaded true to revocation of probation.
On September 12, 2017, he was sentenced to five years probation for commercial burglary, according to court documents. Since that time, he had paid less than $200 on his previous court costs, fees, and restitution.
“I didn’t have the paperwork,” he told Circuit Judge David W. Talley.
In April 2018, he pleaded true to probation revocation. On Thursday, the 54-year-old was sentenced to an additional five-year probationary term and fined $500. Part of his sentencing also ordered him to pay all previously-owed costs and restitution amounts.
“I you miss any payments and you aren’t laid up in the hospital or something of that nature, in all likelihood, you can just go ahead and plan on going to jail,” the judge said.
Talley later added that he hoped things would not come to that, and Chambers would be compliant with the court’s orders.