Olten Sr. gets 15 more years in prison

Dale Olten Sr. will serve another 15 years in prison, after a Phelps County jury convicted him this week of second-degree burglary in a four year-old case.

Cole County prosecutors charged Olten, 50, Russellville, with the Feb. 27, 2009, break-in at a home in the 16000 block of Southwest Road, near Eugene.

The case was transferred to Phelps County on a change of venue in 2010.

In July 2009, his son - Dale Olten Jr., now 24 - was found guilty by a Cole County jury on charges related to the same burglary, and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

In February 2010, Olten Sr. pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally possessing firearms - because convicted felons may not have weapons, under federal law - and to possessing stolen firearms that were found in Olten's home during a search in connection with the area burglaries.

For that conviction, he was sentenced in October 2010 to a 19-year, seven-month federal prison term without parole.

Public Defender Heather Vodnansky, Olten's lawyer in the case, said the new sentence is to run at the same time as the federal sentence.

He already has been serving a state prison sentence for pleading guilty to a June 2007 Callaway County charge, of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson noted Thursday this week's trial in Rolla was Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Michael Crawford's first jury trial.

Vodnansky said she filed a notice of appeal Thursday. Meanwhile, she said, Olten is being returned to the federal prison in Mississippi where he's being held.

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