A Texas man was recently sentenced to probation for a September incident in Jefferson.

According to court documents, 27-year-old Jesse Whatley pled guilty to an amended charge of a serious misdemeanor for his first offense for an OWI. He had all but two days of a one year jail sentence suspended and was placed on informal probation with Boone/Greene County Probation Services for one year.

The charge stemmed from an incident on September 17, 2021. A Jefferson Police Officer responded to a call that Whatley had passed out in Sparky’s One Stop gas station parking lot at 11:43pm. The officer found Whatley asleep in the parked vehicle with a strong odor of alcohol coming from him. Whatley refused to take a field sobriety test, but admitted to consuming alcohol.

Whatley was originally charged with a felony for his third or subsequent OWI, but as per the plea agreement, the felony was amended to a misdemeanor, and the other misdemeanor charge for public intoxication was dismissed.