RITCHIE MAN SENTENCED ON METH-WANTON ENDANGERMENT CHARGES

(06/17/2017)
A Ritchie County man accused of firing a gun while fleeing a south Parkersburg business in November was sentenced Friday in Wood County Circuit Court.

Dustin Franklin, 23, of Petroleum pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 2 to 10 years in prison on a methamphetamine charge and three years on a wanton-endangerment charge.

Judge Robert Waters ordered the sentences to run consecutively. He was given credit for 216 days already served.

A Wood County grand jury indicted Franklin in January on seven other counts related the incident, which began at the Tractor Supply store on Pike Street.

Police say store employees tried to stop Franklin after suspecting him of shoplifting. He then struck store employees and ran across Pike Street into a field near Wal-Mart.

That's when police say shots were fired.

Police arrested him a short time later.

Franklin remains in the North Central Regional Jail.