A Columbus man accused of kidnapping was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison for child endangerment by the Athens County Common Pleas Court.
Jonte Jack, age 34, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, possession of heroin, child endangerment and two counts of intimidating a witness at his pretrial hearing Tuesday, according to court documents.
Those charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 12 years and a maximum fine of $40,000.
A grand jury indicted Jack for trafficking in cocaine, trafficking in heroin, kidnapping, abduction, rape and gross sexual imposition on Sept. 14. Another grand jury indicted Jack for three counts of intimidating an attorney, victim or witness and one count of bribery on April 25.
Because he pleaded guilty, the court dropped the charges of trafficking in cocaine, abduction, rape and gross sexual imposition and amended some of his charges to lesser sentences.
By pleading guilty to endangering children, Jack received a third degree felony conviction rather than contesting a first degree felony charge for kidnapping. His third degree felony charge of possession of cocaine was also amended to a fourth degree felony.
Jack’s original charges carried a maximum total prison sentence of 56 years and 6 months and a total maximum fine of $116,000.
