BATAVIA — Larry Mullins will spend 45 days in jail for telephoning the family of a missing woman and pretending to know where her body was buried.

        Mr. Mullins pleaded no contest in Clermont County Municipal Court this week to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing official business.

        Judge James A. Shriver found him guilty and gave him a 90-day jail sentence but suspended 45 days. The judge also fined him $500, ordered him not to contact the missing woman's family again and placed him on probation for three years.

Larry Mullins (left, with lawyer Carl Ferris) was sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years' probation. (Enquirer file photo) | ZOOM |

        After the court hearing, Mr. Mullins, 53, of Hamilton, was led away to the Clermont County Jail, where he will serve his sentence.

        Police said Mr. Mullins has made more than 100 prank phone calls to relatives of crime and traffic accident victims that occurred years before.

        Earlier this month in Butler County, he was given a 90-day suspended sentence and fined $1,000 after pleading no contest to a charge of telephone harassment. The Butler County judge ordered him to undergo psychological counseling.

        He had called a Morgan Township woman whose daughter-in-law had been killed in a traffic accident 10 years ago.

        The Clermont County case stems from a message Mr. Mullins left in February on the answering machine of the family of 18-year-old Karen Spencer, who vanished Dec. 30, 1989.

        Assistant Prosecutor Todd Stoffel said the Spencer family supported his recommendation that Mr. Mullins be sent to jail.

        “This was a very traumatic experience for them,” Mr. Stoffel said. “This was not an isolated incident. He has an extensive history over many years of reading news papers and periodicals and, at some point, contacting the people in those articles.”

        Mr. Stoffel said Miami Township police spent two days investigating clues Mr. Mullins had left with the Spencer family. That's why he was charged with obstructing official business, he said.
       

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