Warsaw Woman Receives Prison Sentence After Not Returning To Work Release
By Liz Adkins
InkFreeNews
Ashly Danielle Johnson
WARSAW — A Warsaw woman will serve three years in prison for failing to return to the Kosciusko County Work Release facility.
Ashly Danielle Johnson, 33, 403 N. Columbia St., Warsaw, was charged with escape, a level 5 felony.
Johnson was sentenced in Kosciusko Superior Court One on Thursday, Dec. 12.
For escape, Kosciusko Superior Court One Judge Karin McGrath sentenced Johnson to four years in the Indiana Department of Correction, with three years executed and one year suspended on probation. The sentence will be served back-to-back to an additional criminal case Johnson has.
McGrath recommended Johnson for participation in Recovery While Incarcerated as part of her sentence.
At sentencing, Defense Attorney Joseph Bauer noted a great change in Johnson’s personality, saying she was a completely different person from when he first met her. He said Johnson accepted responsibility for her actions and was working on bettering her physical and mental health.
“She’s on the right path and understands what she did was wrong,” said Bauer.
Bauer also said Johnson had been accepted for participation in Michiana Community Corrections.
McGrath noted Johnson’s prior criminal history and said Johnson needed to continue working hard at maintaining her sobriety.
On April 10, Johnson was accepted into the Kosciusko County Work Release Program to serve the executed part of her sentences in two separate criminal cases.
According to court documents, on May 1, law enforcement was notified about Johnson not returning to the work release center after being released to go to work. She left the facility in a vehicle registered to her boyfriend.
A relative of Johnson’s told work release staff she did not believe Johnson was going to return to work release due to a conversation she had with her. The relative said she was out looking for Johnson and had contacted Johnson’s boyfriend about her whereabouts.