Baker County Felony Court

Baker County Felony Court

By LYNSIE BREAUX

Cheryl Lyn Waltrip, 30, will be spending the next three years in prison following a guilty plea Monday in felony court. In addition to jail time, Waltrip was ordered to pay more than $33,000 in restitution.

Waltrip pled guilty to three counts of burglary, two counts of grand theft, one count of petit theft and theft of a firearm.

Waltrip was charged in 2007 and earlier this year on three different indictments. Florida Department of Corrections records show that she spent 13 months in prison on charges of grand theft, dealing in stolen property and uttering a forged instrument based on a 2002 charge in Duval County.

Records also show that she has an extensive criminal history in Baker County. She was charged with two counts of grand theft in 2001, writing a worthless check more than $149 and grand theft auto in 2004.

Diane Dee Michael, 30, was sentenced to six years in prison to be followed by ten years drug offender probation. Three years of that sentence is a minimum mandatory sentence which must be served.

Judge Rosier sentenced Michael to six years on a charge of drug trafficking concurrent with a six-year sentence for sale and possession of a synthetic narcotic.

She was also sentenced to four concurrent five-year sentences for four charges of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.

James M Spaulding III will be spending the next eight years in prison on charges of DUI manslaughter and driving under the influence with property damage.

Four years of his sentence are mandatory and once he gets out of prison he will spend seven years on probation with no possibility of early termination of probation. His license is also suspended for life.

Spaulding killed 55-year-old Susan Hillhouse as she rode her motorcycle on December 8, 2007 on SR 121 north of Macclenny. She had been riding with her husband during the day and was returning home to Lake City when she was killed.