Schubart sentence extended by three years
 . Schubart sentence extended by three years By Scott W.L. Daravanis . Berlin, Germany resident Christian Schubart, 64, was given a three-year sentence for a series of operating a vehicle while intoxicated arrests in 1994 and 1996 Wednesday morning. Hamilton Superior 4 Judge Richard Campbell said the sentence will begin after Schubart finishes a six-year sentence levied by Circuit Court Judge Judith Proffitt in June. With one-for-one good time, Schubart could be released in four and a half years when he is nearly 69 years old. Schubart was arrested for alcohol-related violations nine times between 1987 and 1997. Before he could be sentenced after pleading guilty for the last three violations, Schubart moved to his home town of Berlin, Germany. He was arrested this past April at JFK International Airport in New York City by officers with the Department of Homeland Security after a computer scan showed Schubart had two outstanding warrants for his arrest in Hamilton County. In a written statement given to Campbell, Schubart said he moved to Germany in 1997 because he was unemployed, had no health insurance and was under “a lot of stress due to marriage problems.” Schubart said a woman helped him quit his drinking and cigarette smoking habits. After living together for two years, he and Ulrika Volckmann now are engaged. “I wish Christian would be allowed to return to Germany where he can go back work,” Volckmann said is broken English. “He is a good man for me.” In German, through an interpretation provided by Schubart’s daughter, Angela Ledcke, Volckmann said Schubart “has a very good job and is never late to work.” She said her fiancée suffered serious head and shoulder injuries in a bus accident in 1998 that still requires him to receive medical treatment. Schubart said he was in a coma for 32 days after he was thrown out of one of the bus’s windows. Schubart told Hamilton County Deputy Prosecutor Dori Wood that when his brother invited him and Volckmann to New York City for a visit, he had Ledcke call his bondsman and the courthouse “to see if it was safe to come to the USA.” “She was told that the seven-year statute of limitations had run out. That may have been just talk,” Schubart said. “Today, I would not do those things. I’m not saying I’m innocent, but it’s been a long time. “My life has changed so much for the better,” Schubart wrote in his letter to Campbell. “I am 64 years old and want to spend some good years with my wife-to-be.” Campbell sided with the plea agreement in sentencing Schubart Wednesday. For operating a vehicle while intoxicated and operating a vehicle after a court determined he was a habitual traffic violator, each class D felonies, Schubart was sentenced to concurrent three-year sentences with 110 days credit for time served. Campbell waived all court costs and fines and said Schubart’s drivers license in America would be suspended for the rest of his life. A violation of probation charge from the 1994 arrest was dismissed. Campbell allowed Volckmann to spend five minutes with Schubart at the Hamilton County Jail Wednesday afternoon before he was returned to the Regional Diagnostic Center in Plainfield. Ledcke said Volckmann had reservations to fly back to Germany Thursday morning. Ledcke said Volckmann’s one-month visa was scheduled to expire July 29.
|