Dixon County criminal docket: guilty pleas, probation revocations and treatment furloughs under Judge David D. Wolfe

Judge David D. Wolfe presided over a full criminal-docket session on June 3, 2025, at the Dixon County Justice Center in which the court accepted multiple pleas, resolved probation violation hearings and set a number of treatment‑oriented furloughs.

The most serious courtroom dispositions included guilty pleas and agreed sentences entered in several felony matters. Troy Allen Tomlin Jr. entered pleas resolving a multi‑count indictment that the court accepted; the judge imposed an effective sentence that combines consecutive and concurrent terms under the plea agreement and ordered sex‑offender registry requirements. Cody Allen Lee Francis and Derek Marcus Nelms each entered pleas resolving separate indictments: the court accepted a no‑contest plea from Francis that resulted in concurrent 10‑year sentences on counts set out in the plea paperwork, and Nelms pleaded no‑contest to a Sex Offender Registry violation that the judge accepted as a career‑offender disposition (six years, with the judgment specifying one year in jail before suspension to probation and a mandatory 90‑day component).

Several defendants who had been placed on community corrections or furloughed to residential treatment were returned to court. The docket shows multiple treatment‑oriented outcomes: Joshua O'Neil Prentice and Larry Duane Salters were each ordered into long‑term residential programs with the court granting furloughs to allow inpatient treatment; the court set follow‑up review dates and made continuation to community corrections contingent on successful completion. Thomas Christopher McDonald and others were reinstated to community corrections at a specified level on condition that they successfully enter and complete the identified treatment program.

The court also addressed numerous probation‑violation hearings. In a high‑profile review, Judge Wolfe found John Wayne Hogan guilty on probation violations based on new convictions for which he had earlier been sentenced, revoked him to serve one year day‑for‑day and then reinstated him to probation with his term extended by one year beyond the original expiration date. In multiple cases the court accepted negotiated dispositions that reinstated defendants to probation or community corrections with enhanced reporting, 0‑tolerance drug‑screen conditions and monthly testing required by court order.

A number of defendants were confirmed as having successfully completed earlier stages of community corrections or furloughs and were transferred to regular probation. The judge signed orders transferring defendants such as Zachary James Fulton and Rebecca Lisson (listed in court paperwork as Lasseon/Lassoni in the file) to regular probation following documented successful completion of community‑corrections stages.

The court also heard a challenge to bond conditions in a separate matter: the state filed a motion to revoke bond after a defendant had made bond without a GPS bracelet installed as the bond order required. The court set a short date for the state to provide supporting material about related out‑of‑state charges and left the defendant on bond pending Thursday morning’s hearing; the court noted that installation of a GPS prior to release is the local practice and urged counsel to confer about immediate steps to comply with the bond conditions.

Program staff and family members testified in several hearings about treatment participation and about whether program rules were explained and followed. CrossDaw Life Recovery program staff testified that a participant was discharged after staff concluded he had met with family members in violation of program visitation rules; the participant testified he had met his fiancée and two minor children briefly, declined to provide minor children’s names to program staff, then left the program and later turned himself in to authorities.

Judge Wolfe emphasized the court’s expectation that people on supervision keep probation officers apprised of changes in address and comply with court‑ordered conditions. “There are no unimportant rules of probation,” the judge said when explaining why some violations led to revocation; in other matters the court accepted negotiated reinstatements tied to strict conditions such as weekly or monthly reporting, 0‑tolerance drug testing, or enrollment in specified treatment programs.

The court set multiple follow‑up and review dates (commonly the next VOP day on June 30 or later September review dates) and signed numerous transfer and sentencing orders appearing on the docket. Several defendants who requested or were granted withdrawal of earlier plea paperwork were scheduled for later hearings to permit counsel to review files or to permit presentation of additional records.

What happened at a glance: plea agreements resolving felony indictments for Troy Tomlin Jr. and Cody Francis; plea to a registry violation by Derek Nelms (career offender disposition); multiple defendants reinstated to probation or community corrections on conditions including treatment and 0‑tolerance drug‑screening; furloughs granted so defendants could enter designated residential programs with the stated condition that failure to complete those programs would result in revocation to serve the underlying sentences; and a bond‑compliance dispute involving GPS monitoring set for a short, follow‑up hearing.

The court did not issue sentencing on some matters today pending receipt of documents or further proofs (for example, in the bond‑revocation request tied to alleged out‑of‑state charges). Several matters were continued so appointed counsel could review files and for the state to assemble records requested by defense counsel.