CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man charged with giving synthetic marijuana to two minors pleaded guilty recently in Clearfield County Court.
Dustin Edward Houston, 28, 140 Mapes Ave., Clearfield, pleaded guilty to two counts each of corruption of minors and criminal solicitation/ possession of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to nine months to two years in state prison. He was fined $4 plus costs.
In two additional cases, he pleaded guilty to theft by unlawful taking, criminal conspiracy and criminal mischief. He was given a six month to two years concurrent state prison sentence. He was fined a total of $30 plus costs and he must pay restitution of $1,260.
According to the affidavit of probable cause in the first case, police responded to a residence in Hawk Run on Dec. 29, 2011, where they met with the father of the victims. He told officers when he arrived home he found the two boys, 16 years old and 9 years old under the influence of something. Officers on the scene saw the 9-year-old lying on a couch with a can beside him because he had been vomiting. The other boy had blood shot eyes and was staring into space. Their father told police the boys stated they had been smoking “fake weed” that Houston and their mother Gladys Wilkinson had given them.
Police spoke with the 16-year-old the next day. He explained that he received a text message from Houston asking the boys to meet him and Wilkinson. When they got into Houston’s vehicle, Houston asked them if they wanted “to take a hit.” He then held out a multi-colored glass pipe. The teen said no, but stated Houston talked him into it.
Houston put a leafy green plant substance into the pipe and handed it to him. The teen admitted to smoking it. He then left the vehicle. When he returned, his brother was vomiting in the back seat. The other boy told police a similar story.
The theft charges stem from an incident in Cooper Township between Dec. 21 and Dec. 22, 2011 and in Morris Township on Dec. 25, 2011, when copper ground wire was cut from utility poles. On Jan. 5, 2012 police were at Wilkinson’s address checking a report of a runaway. While there a trooper noticed several pieces of cut copper along with cutting and climbing tools in the back of a vehicle matching the description of a vehicle seen in the area of the thefts.
A witness told police Wilkinson and Houston were stealing copper during the night to supply their K2, synthetic marijuana, habit.
In March Wilkinson pleaded guilty to two counts of corruption of minors and was sentenced to six months to two years in state prison. She received probation for the theft cases.