Five defendants appeared before Judge Mark Karl on Monday for sentencing in Tyler County.

Terry Winter, 43, of 2130 Oil Ridge Road, Sistersville, entered a plea of guilty to the felony offenses of failure to appear and attempted sexual abuse by a parent.

Upon his pleas, Judge Karl ordered him to be committed to the custody of the West Virginia Division of Corrections for terms of imprisonment of not less than one or more than three years for attempted sexual abuse by a parent, with credit for time served.

Winter was also ordered to pay the cost of prosecution, court appointed attorney fees and will be required to register as a sexual offender upon his release from prison.

In return for his pleas of guilty, the State dismissed the indictment found against him in 2006, as well as an additional failure to appear charge in 2007.

Winter was remanded to the Division of Corrections to begin serving his sentence immediately.

Winter was accused of sexually exploiting his daughter in 2006. Following several court appearances, Winter’s bond was revoked and he later absconded and did not show himself until he was ultimately captured by the Tyler County Sheriff’s Department in March of 2009.

Prosecuting Attorney Luke Furbee advised the court that a substantial part of the evidence against Winter would be the victim’s testimony. “She will recount how Winter forced her to disrobe while he watched and that he had attempted to force her to perform oral sex on him,” stated Furbee.

Winter admitted to these allegations during his plea hearing.

Brian Foland, 47, of Route 1, Box 150 B, Middlebourne pleaded guilty to count two of an indictment found against him in February charging him with felony sexual assault in the third degree. Judge Karl ordered him to serve a sentence of not less than one or more than five years in prison, with credit for time served.

Foland was also ordered to pay the cost of prosecution and will register as a sexual offender upon his release. Count one of the indictment was dismissed.

In addition, Foland was ordered to undergo HIV testing.

Foland was alleged to have forcibly had sexual intercourse with an adult female in August 2008 while they were visiting the residence of Carol Stewart in Middlebourne.

Furbee advised the court, “The evidence against Foland will consist of the victim’s statement, wherein she told Sgt. R.D. Pratt of the Tyler County Sheriff’s Department that Foland climbed in bed with her while he was naked and asked if she wanted to have sex. She declined and when she attempted to leave she was assaulted.”

The investigation showed that this victim was mentally impaired in the opinion of the psychologist who examined her.

Foland also gave a statement admitting to having sex with the victim.

He will return to court June 9.

Carol Stewart, 47, of Apt. C-6, Middlebourne Manor, Middlebourne, pleaded guilty to count one and three of the indictment found against her in February charing her with delivery of a schedule IV controlled substance and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Judge Karl ordered her to serve a term of imprisonment not less than one year or more than three years for felony delivery and six months in the North Central Regional Jail for the misdemeanor office of contributing.

The sentences will run concurrently and Stewart may move the court to reduce her sentence to home confinement after serving six months of incarceration.

Stewart was ordered to pay the cost of prosecution and court appointed attorney fees.

The State dismissed counts two and four of the indictment. She will self-report to the North Central Regional Jail to begin serving her sentence on June 1.

Stewart is accused of furnishing prescription pills with a chemical name of lorazepam to three juvenile males in August 2008. The investigation commenced when Deputy J.K. Maston of the Tyler County Sheriff’s Department was dispatched to the intersection of Second Street and Stealey Street in Middlebourne in reference to a hit-and-run.

Maston observed three juvenile males milling around a Buick sedan that had been wrecked. According to Maston, they were staggering, slurring their speech and were clearly under the influence.

Two of the juveniles were transported to Sistersville General Hospital for treatment. Maston took the third juvenile to his office in an attempt to interview him. When he arrived he was informed that Stewart had made a complaint that three boys and stolen her pills. A statement from one of the juveniles led Maston to believe they had been given the pills by Stewart.

Stewart was questioned and initially denied giving the pills to the juveniles. Later, she recanted and confessed to giving them the pills and stated they had crushed and snorted a quantity of them at her residence.

Jason Smith, 37, of Middlebourne, appeared before Judge Karl upon Second Judicial Probation Officer John Lantz’s petition to revoke his supervised magistrate court ordered probation. Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of domestic violence-related conduct earlier this year.

As part of his plea agreement in magistrate court, Smith was ordered to serve two sentences of one year in the North Central Regional Jail, concurrently, however the jail terms were suspended and he was placed on probation. As conditions of his probation, he was required to undergo alcohol treatment and was to avoid contact with known felons.

The probation officer had alleged that Smith failed to follow those two terms of his probation. Smith admitted to the violations in court and Judge Karl revoked the probation and remanded him to jail to serve the effective one-year sentence.

The court also heard motions in the case of Ronald Lee Bassett. He will go on trial May 26 concerning a 14-count indictment alleging various sexual offenses alleged to have been perpetrated by him against his daughter.

The court ruled on portions of the motions and deferred ruling until trial on others.