An Ironton man will go to prison for five years after pleading guilty to burglary and forgery charges Wednesday in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court.

Joseph R. Thompson, 34, of 815 Lawrence St., admitted to three counts of forgery stemming from an incident Aug. 24 and one count of burglary from an incident in November 2009. These incidents involved two different victims.

In addition to the prison sentence, Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge D. Scott Bowling ordered Thompson to make restitution in the amount of $410 to the victim in his forgery case.

Bowling will allow Thompson to serve this sentence concurrently with any prison sentence he receives in Kentucky from charges pending against him there.

Robert Ferguson, 49, of 412 Gallia Pike, Ironton, avoided a six-month prison sentence by paying $4,400 toward a $12, 237 child support arrearage for three children, one of whom is still under 18 years of age.

Special prosecutor Brenda Neville had asked for the six-month prison sentence, given the size of the arrearage and because Ferguson had made so few attempts to erase it.

But Ferguson’s attorney, Chris Delawder, said Ferguson got behind in his payments because of the economy and had even moved to another state in an effort to find work. Delawder said his client is willing to pay his child support.

“Putting him in jail is not going to do anybody any good,” Delawder said.

Bowling said he did not want to send Ferguson to prison if he is making an effort to pay the arrearage. He ordered Ferguson to make the $4,400 payment immediately and the balance within 12 months.

Jesse W. Emery, 19, of 160 Township Road 1131, Proctorville, pleaded guilty to one count of receiving stolen property (a 2004 Honda Sonata) and failure to comply with the order and signal of a police officer.

Bowling sentenced Emery to a total of four years in prison and ordered him to pay $1,050 in restitution.