Staff Report

Donald Ralph Barton II

WARSAW — A Syracuse man was recently arrested after allegedly tampering with his home detention device.

Donald Ralph Barton II, 31, 704 W. Portland St., Syracuse, is charged with failure to return to lawful detention, a level 6 felony.

On June 7, Barton was serving a sentence in a drug possession case with a sentence of 366 days in the Kosciusko County Jail, consecutive to another case. Barton’s projected release date, assuming good time credit, was projected to be Dec. 8.

According to court documents, Barton was authorized to serve his executed sentence on electronic monitoring with the Kosciusko County Community Corrections program. Barton reviewed and signed KCCC’s policy for home detention in June.

On Aug. 24, Barton’s KCCC officer received data from Barton’s GPS monitoring device that Barton was at three unapproved locations. The next day, the officer received data that Barton was again at three unapproved locations.

On Aug. 25, the KCCC officer spoke with Barton on the phone and requested he immediately come to the KCCC office. Barton told the officer that he was on his way there. However, Barton never went to the office. Later that day, the officer received a call that Barton’s device had been tampered with.

On Aug. 26, the officer found Barton’s home detention device zip-tied to a road sign in North Webster.

Barton was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on Sept. 29, with a $16,000 surety and cash bond.