By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — A Greenville man received a 90-day sentence for a probation violation on Monday. Judge Travis L. Fliehman presided.

Ryan S. Ruppe, 33, appeared for disposition after admitting to parole violations on the original charge of aggravated possession of drugs, a felony of the fifth degree. Ruppe faced anywhere from six- to 12-months incarceration and up to a $2,500 fine.

State prosecutor Kelly Ormsby spoke on behalf of probation stating probation advised they had dealt with Ruppe numerous times over the years, but the situation has a history of not going well.

“The court has given Mr. Ruppe a little bit of a break back in August. We have sentencing Aug. 29, 2022, and at that time the court placed him on monitored time because the understanding was he was about to move to Indiana and get a job. I don’t believe that happened,” Ormsby said.

Based on the problems probation has had with dealing with and supervising Ruppe, they would recommend Ruppe’s probation be terminated and jail time be administered at sentencing. The court gave Ruppe the opportunity to respond to the state’s allegations, and he did so by telling the court where he is at in life.

“I feel like I didn’t want to change until three years ago. I feel like I’ve seen-being incarceration and stuff, at first I regretted it, but I realized it was a good thing. It caused me to reach out to a higher power,” Ruppe said.

He continued to advise the court that when he says he wants to change he has just started a 12-step program. While talking about the 12-steps, he said when the first step says “we are powerless when our lives become unmanageable,” he wonders if that powerless and intangibility “can give someone a bad look to someone who says they want to change.”

“I feel like I just want to apologize to probation if they feel like that I wasn’t taking it serious. I did go to Indiana for a little bit, but then I realized that I need to get into more treatment,” Ruppe said.

Ruppe said he had come back to Ohio for treatment and bounced back and fourth between programs. He did not complete any of the treatments before leaving.

“I kept finding reasons, I felt like it wasn’t the right one. I told myself you know instead of leaving and not coming back, I am just going to go find another one until it feels like the right spot, and I gave up,” Ruppe said.

Amber Richardson with Adult probation expressed he frustration with having worked with Ruppe for years.

“He says he wants the help and wants to change, and I believe he does. However, he has had multiple opportunities to go to multiple different treatment programs, and he always tends to leave,” Richardson said.

She advised it is hard for Ruppe to really “dig in and sort out the things he needs to work on when he doesn’t stay at a program long enough for things to start working.” She continues to advise he defiantly cannot build a relationship with a therapist if he is going to leave all the time.

“He would have a lot better chance if he stayed long enough,” Richardson said.

Ruppe advised he felt one of his temptations he fell to in this situation were based off attachment issues.

“Being 33 and got 15 years incarceration in, I’ve been waiting for relationships my whole life, and I know there’s a bunch of temptation to resist. You know that sexual morality,” Ruppe said.

He said these relationships are what keeps drawing him back into the path to Greenville, as he thinks “maybe we can make it work this time.” He gets caught up in partners and friends telling him what he wants to hear to get what they want, and when he becomes sober, they leave him alone.

“You know it’s my fault, but it’s like this is why I’m struggling. I feel once I give into that and intimate relations, it’s like I fall onto everything else and get weak again,” Ruppe said.

Judge Fliehman left Ruppe with a piece of advice advising him to watch who he hangs out with because those people will influence who he is.

“We become like the people we associate with, and historically it sounds like you have -when you’re out and have a taste of freedom, you go back to those same relationships which are cancerous to you,” Judge Fliehman said.

“I just want to apologize to everybody if they thought that I wasn’t being serious or anything like that. I do want to change,” Ruppe said. “I don’t like being incarcerated. It sucks. I realized it’s hard to have a relationship if you’re always locked up.”

He said that until he can get sober, maintain sobriety, and change his way of thinking he is not going to have a wife or kids. He knows change will need to happen if he is going to have a healthy relationship in the future.

“I realize I need to build this new foundation, so if I got to start completely new with people, places, and things I’m going to. If I’m codependent and don’t like to be alone and I’m in lock up my whole life -it’s not easy. I’m having a hard time with it,” Ruppe said.

While reading his Bible, a scripture stuck with Ruppe about how the path with be difficult, and he advised that he never realized just how difficult the path to sobriety would be.

“All I got to do is try, and I feel like nobody sees the good. Like ‘hey, Ruppe was clean for 45 days’, and some people just think about how it wasn’t the bar they wanted me to reach. It wasn’t high enough, and I felt like I couldn’t do what they wanted me to do,” Ruppe said.

Ruppe advised about how hard the path to changing habits and sobriety is saying he tried and there was some improvement even though “it might not have been as much as they wanted.” Sobriety is difficult, and he said he is going to keep pushing dispite society telling him “you might have tried, but you didn’t try hard enough.

“I didn’t meet that expectation or quota. 35 days clean wasn’t good enough. It used to be there were no clean days,” Ruppe said. “I couldn’t wait to get back out to not be sober and do drugs again.”

Ruppe said he liked the attention it brought him, and he couldn’t break the habit. He said he was in denial about the people who used him for the money and drugs thinking they really liked him and were there for him.

Ruppe advised he needs to get rid of the temptation in his life if he is going to be able to regain his life back. Messenger is a big temptation for him, and he advised it needs to be among one of the first things to go. He also advised he needs to get rid of all his toxic relationships, as they all bail on him when he is sober and come back when he is not.

“I need to cut them off. It’s going to hurt cutting off my friends and family, but it’s causing me to fall into temptation. I need to get rid of it,” Ruppe said.

Judge Fliehman thanked Ruppe for his comments and told him he has the right idea.

“You are saying all the right things, but the challenge is going to be doing the right things when you have that freedom,” Judge Fliehman said.

Ruppe was sentenced to 90 days of continued incarceration, as he has currently served a total of 204 of a potential 365 day maximum penalty. Judge Fliehman noted Ruppe has a hard time maintaining sobriety and wants him to create a new habit. He encouraged Ruppe to continue reading and thinking about the next three months because once he is released from jail, Ruppe will be completely on his own with no supervision.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].