MOUNT VERNON — A Centerburg man was sentenced to prison by Knox County Common Pleas Court Judge Otho Eyster on Friday for breaking into a Martinsburg gas station and stealing cigarettes.
Joseph M. Worley, 33, Centerburg, was convicted of breaking and entering and receiving stolen property. Worley was sentenced to 17 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,090 to the crime victim.
Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher said on Jan. 9, at about 2 a.m., Worley broke into a gas station in Martinsburg and stole approximately 40 cartons of cigarettes. Worley drove away in a stolen 1997 Ford Thunderbird that he later abandoned in a ditch near Bell Church Road.
A Licking County K-9 unit found Worley hiding in the woods nearby where he was arrested by Knox County Sheriff’s deputies. Deputies Ryan Burgess, Kevin Durbin, Scott Baker and Detective Doug Turpen, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, handled the case.
Farah K. Slusser, 20, Fredericktown, was convicted of aggravated trafficking in drugs for selling Oxycodone tablets to a confidential informant working for the Mount Vernon Police, on Dec. 10, 2009. Slusser was sentenced to a three-year term of community control supervision, including a 30-day jail sentence. Her driver’s license was suspended for six months.
Slusser will serve a 17-month prison term, if she violates the conditions of her community control supervision. Detective David McElroy investigated the case.

