State v. Cunningham, 2017 Ohio 4069

Tiffany L. Cunningham pleaded guilty to six counts arising from a multi-year scheme defrauding TJ Maxx stores across seven states: conspiracy (R.C. 2923.02), theft (R.C. 2913.02), money laundering (R.C. 1315.55), identity fraud (R.C. 2913.49), and two counts of forgery (R.C. 2913.31).
Her scheme: purchase multiple items, return most high-value items using altered receipts and false names, retain original receipts, then use those receipts to obtain refunds at other stores by returning stolen or altered merchandise.
Cunningham stole approximately $254,687.81; she was arrested in January 2016 and indicted on 40 counts, pleading guilty to six counts.
The trial court imposed consecutive prison terms totaling 6 years and 3 months and ordered restitution of $254,687.81.
At plea/sentencing, the state and defense agreed that none of the offenses were allied for merger purposes; Cunningham later appealed claiming that theft and forgery (Counts 4 and 12) should have merged.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether theft and forgery are allied offenses requiring merger under R.C. 2941.25	State: Offenses caused separate harms, committed separately, with separate animus; they do not merge	Cunningham: Theft and forgery arise from the same conduct and should merge as allied offenses	Court: Waiver applies because defense agreed at trial they were not allied; alternatively, on plain-error review, theft and forgery produced separate harms and animus, so no merger

State v. Ruff, 34 N.E.3d 892 (Ohio 2015) (announces the three-part allied-offenses test: import/harm, separate commission, separate animus)
State v. Black, 58 N.E.3d 561 (Ohio 2016) (discusses waiver of allied-offenses claim where defense consents at plea/sentencing)