Patton, 38, faces more charges in Greene County, has changed attorneys multiple times in both counties and filed multiple lawsuits against law enforcement authorities. Prosecutors from the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office are attending Patton’s trial.
“James E. Patton is a con man,” Montgomery County Prosecutor’s assistant Karina Korostyshevsky told the jury during opening statements, adding that a Regions Bank debit card was his criminal tool.
Prosecutors allege Patton contacted Weber’s Jewelers in December 2011 to have them create a 6- to 8-carat diamond engagement ring. Then, on Feb. 17, 2012, Patton gave a credit/debit card to an employee and had the transaction denied. Then, according to authorities, Patton called his bank to get his credit limit increased and obtain a verification code.
Prosecutors said Patton then instructed the employee to take the machine offline and gave the employee a fraudulent authorization code to make the transaction go through, despite the card being from an account they say Patton knew was closed. Court documents indicate Patton then allegedly gave instructions about how to run the sale through offline or force the transaction.
Prosecutors said these instructions made the deposit appear to go through the in-store credit card terminal. Four days later, Weber’s Jewelers received notification that the down payment made by Patton was not credited to his account, according to court documents.
Prosecutors allege Patton has used a similar practice at the Hilton Garden Inn for a room and at Arbogast Buick for a down payment on an automobile. Those alleged acts are not being prosecuted.
Defense attorney Marshall Lachman told the jury to pay attention to every element of proving the alleged crime, specifically the $7,500 threshold. Lachman said the item Weber Jewelers was going to sell to Patton was a cubic zirconia stone worth about $6,000, not a diamond ring worth a half-million dollars.
Patton has routinely filed motions on his own and not through his attorneys. He has had at least three attorneys of record in each county, with more than one filing motions to be removed as counsel because communication between the attorney and Patton had “deteriorated to the extent that his attorney could not effectively represent” Patton.
Patton has filed three hand-written lawsuits in Montgomery County. One is against Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer and others, alleging Patton was struck three times while in a holding cell.
A second is against a sheriff’s deputy, who allegedly wouldn’t let Patton bring his 18 manila envelopes to a hearing in court and who drove faster than the speed limit while driving back to the jail in Xenia.
A third suit is about when Patton said he was handed a bologna and cheese sandwich and that Patton objected because he said he’s on a gluten-free diet. Patton alleges an officer told him, “This isn’t Hardees and if you don’t like the food or treatment, don’t come to jail.”
In Greene County Common Pleas Court, Patton faces felony charges of misuse of a credit card, theft, receiving stolen property and passing bad checks. He also faces misdemeanor charges of passing bad checks and misuse of a credit card. Patton also has sued the Greene County Sheriff’s Office relating to jail conditions in both common pleas and federal court.
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