MARYSVILLE — A Marysville man who already faced nine felonies for previously shooting at local law enforcement briefly eluded custody Tuesday evening, Aug. 26, after escaping from private medical transport.
About 5:30 p.m., Dustin Ohm, 29, of 960 White Oak Court, was being transported from Select Specialty Hospital to The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus for a medical procedure, Union County Sheriff Mike Justice said.
“The private ambulance pulled up and dropped him off, and from my understanding, (he) walked away at that point in time and grabbed a scooter and took off,” the sheriff said.
“We had no idea he was getting outside treatment, we did not know he was that mobile again and we had already (made) plans to pick him up later in the week.”
Sheriff Justice said that Ohm is now in custody after being located at his brother’s house in Columbus 90 minutes later.
Ohm has been attending Select Specialty Hospital and OSU for treatments since May 30 after being shot by sheriff’s office deputies in an officer-involved shooting in the Quail Hollow subdivision.
Justice said Ohm has been through multiple surgeries since he was initially admitted to the hospital and did not put deputies on him, as he was not mobile.
The defendant was initially set to be arraigned on Aug. 15 in the Union County Court of Common Pleas on nine felony charges, including attempted aggravated murder of the first degree.
Deputies were ready to pick him up and transport him to court on Aug. 15, but officials said Ohm was not released on orders from OSU medical staff.
“He still needed assistance with walking, he still had a liquid IV in and he wasn’t mobile,” Sheriff Justice explained.
The sheriff said the medication that Ohm was prescribed could only be administered at the hospital and that it cost around $12,000 a day, adding that the defendant is being billed for all of his hospital stays, medication and treatment since he has not been in sheriff’s custody.
“I talked to him yesterday morning and made arrangements to go back down Thursday night because he was supposed to be released on Friday again,” Sheriff Justice said, until he got the call that Ohm had fled Tuesday evening.
“If we’d known that he was mobile or that he had outside appointments, it would have been a game changer for us.”
Ohm was found Tuesday night in Columbus around 7 p.m. as the result of a joint effort between Columbus and OSU police.
He was transported back to OSU and Select Specialty Hospital Care after opening some wounds from his previous injuries, the sheriff said, adding that deputies are “sitting on him 24/7 again.”
Sheriff Justice further explained the decision not to take Ohm into custody earlier, citing his medical costs as well as the costs to monitor him around the clock when he can’t leave anyway.
“Why are we going to pay overtime for our staff sitting on him 24/7, or if we’re not paying overtime, we’re pulling services away from our county to sit on someone that’s not getting out of bed and walking without assistance?” he said, adding that they now know he is mobile. “Now we’re down there.”
