Lima man leading chase twice receives 10 years

3/24/2011

LIMA, Ohio — A Lima man who was shot after leading law enforcement officers on a multicounty chase in August was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison stemming from that incident and a subsequent police chase.

Scot E. Sprague, 42, pleaded guilty last month in Allen County Common Pleas Court to two counts each of failure to comply with the order of a police officer and trafficking in marijuana. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Richard Warren ordered Sprague to pay $478 restitution to the Ohio Highway Patrol for damage to a cruiser and $2,700 to the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force for its drug investigation.

On Aug. 23, Sprague led authorities on a pursuit from Allen to Putnam to Hancock counties where Sprague lost control, crashed into a house in Benton Ridge, and was shot and wounded by sheriff's deputies when he emerged from his vehicle.

Then, on Nov. 12, state troopers tried to pull over Sprague for speeding on Hancock County Road 212 and, when Sprague refused to pull over, pursued him on I-75 toward Beaverdam where he was apprehended.