Martin hit with first prison sentence
CARROLLTON — The first domino has fallen in multiple cases against a West Central Illinois woman who has multiple charges across the region.
WLDS reports that Abigail L. Martin (who also goes by Abigail L. Martin-Angulo) pled guilty in Greene County court Friday. She would receive charges of deceptive practice at a Greenfield auto dealership in September 2020.
Martin’s arrest on those charges was on October 2, 2020 by Greenfield Police Department on the charges. However, her appearances in court were non-existent.
“Basically, we had alleged that she had written a check to Morrow Brothers Ford in Greenfield,” stated Greene County State’s Attorney Caleb Briscoe in the open plea. “At the time she issued the check to them, she knew that there wasn’t sufficient funds in the bank to be able to cash that.”
Briscoe did state that a trial was to begin on Tuesday, Mar. 29, but Martin made the guilty plea in court last Friday, Mar. 18.
Martin received a sentence of three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. She will have to pay court costs in the range of $600 to $700.
Actual service time for Martin in prison may vary
The tricky part will be how long she will actually have to spend in prison, given the outstanding caseload in several other Central Illinois counties. This will result in additional paperwork for Briscoe’s office with those counties.
“Typically, whenever somebody is sentenced to the Department of Corrections, we issue a mittimus and stand her,” said Briscoe. “[We] notify the Department of Corrections that she’s been sentenced and is ready to make arrangements to drop her off to serve it.”
It’s not so simple with the pending caseload, which is working against the Greene County sentence.
“She does have pending cases in several counties in Illinois and I think in other jurisdictions as well,” Briscoe noted. “Technically, if she was being held in a different county but our warrant was outstanding, she’s entitled to that credit against our three-year sentence.”
Briscoe is working with those other counties to verify custody status in the timeframe the warrant was active.
Pending cases continue
Martin has pending cases in Madison, Montgomery, Morgan, and Fulton counties. A recent case in Knox County concluded last month for deceptive practice for passing around bad checks in Galesburg. She would receive a sentence of probation and restitution in the case.
Martin appears in Morgan County court on April 26 for a status hearing on a forgery charge.
She currently remains in custody at the Greene County Jail.
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Cox is a broadcast media and journalism veteran currently working as news director for WLDS/WEAI in Jacksonville, Ill. He is also chairman of the Morgan County Libertarian Party.
