Lima man offered plea deal in knife altercation

LIMA — A Lima man charged with four counts of felonious assault in connection with a domestic dispute earlier this year has until Aug. 24 to accept a plea offer from prosecutors.

If that deadline passes, Terry Green III will have his fate determined by an Allen County jury next month.

Green, 37, was indicted by a grand jury in June of the four second-degree felony charges that allege he “did cause serious physical harm to another by means of a deadly weapon.”

Assistant Allen County Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Thines said during a court hearing Thursday that the offer presented to Green calls for him to plead guilty to a single count of felonious assault. In exchange, the state would dismiss the remaining counts and would make no sentencing recommendation.

A Sept. 11 trial date has been scheduled.

According to court records, on the evening of April 12 officers from the Allen County Sheriff’s Office and American Township Police Department were dispatched to the 300 block of Saint Clair Avenue in Lima in reference to a stabbing. Two individuals had been transported to a local hospital following the incident.

Upon their arrival at the residence officers found Kaely Tippie on the porch with a cloth wrapped around her wrist. She told officers there was a fight at the residence and that she had been stabbed.

As additional law enforcement personnel arrived it was found that a fight had taken place between Lance Crabtree and his girlfriend, Desiree Long.

Long walked to the Saint Clair Avenue home but Crabtree arrived a short time later in an attempt to speak with her. Court records state that while Crabtree was talking to Long in a parked car he was attacked by Tippie and Green, her friend.

Green reportedly produced a folding knife and stabbed Crabtree in his upper body and neck. Tippie was stabbed in her left hand, with her thumb nearly severed, police said.