SIDNEY — The last defendant involved in the October beating and robbery of a retired sheriff’s deputy was sentenced in Shelby County Common Pleas Court Tuesday.
Brittany Morris, 18, of Troy, was, according to Shelby County Prosecutor Tim Sell, the least involved. Morris was given five years of community control, ordered to pay a $200 fine, complete drug and alcohol counseling and pay $1,415.59 in restitution to the victim jointly with all the co-defendants.
She had originally been charged with one count of complicity to aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, and one count felonious assault, a second-degree felony. She entered a guilty plea on the condition that the first count be amended to complicity to burglary, a felony of the third-degree, and that the second count be dismissed.
Morris’ attorney, Ralph Bauer, along with Sell, said in court Tuesday she was cooperative throughout the investigation.
Her co-defendants were Eion Dangerfield, 24, of Piqua, William G. Copeland III, 19, of Sidney, John Lee Irvin Jr., 24, of Sidney, Mercedes Leann Paul, 20, of Piqua. They all had a hand in breaking into the home of Isaac Bollinger, 75, in Plattsville. They said Bollinger’s grandson owed them $100.
According to a Shelby County Sheriff’s Office report at the time, deputies were dispatched to the residence on a report of a burglary and assault and found Bollinger bleeding heavily from several places on his head. He said three men knocked on his door and forced their way in. Bollinger pushed one of the men out and another one struck him in the face. As Bollinger was trying to fend them off one of the men pulled a gun.
A woman staying with the Bollingers, Brittany Huston, 21, told deputies the men said they were there to get $100 from her boyfriend that he owed them for heroin.
It was later discovered that Huston had a part in the incident and was charged with complicity to aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony, and obstructing justice, a third-degree felony, for communicating misleading statements to detectives of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office during the criminal investigation to hinder the discovery and apprehension of the suspects.
Huston was sentenced last month to serve 24 months in prison, pay a $500 fine, and pay the restitution. She will also have to serve up to three years discretionary post release control. She also received 104 days credit for time she spent in jail prior to sentencing.
Dangerfield, Copeland, and Irvin were all charged with one count of aggravated burglary, with a firearms specification, a felony of the first-degree, and one count of felonious assault, a felony of the second degree. They all originally plead not-guilty then entered a guilty plea on the terms that the felonious assault count be dropped, along with the firearms specification.
Dangerfield was sentenced last month to serve eight years in prison, and pay the restitution. He will also have to complete a mandatory five years community control upon release from prison. He received 163 days of credit for time he spent in jail prior to sentencing.
Copeland was sentenced in February to serve four years in prison, pay a $300 fine, and pay the restitution. He will also have to complete a mandatory five years community control upon release from prison.
Irvin was sentenced in February to serve five years in prison, pay a $300 fine, and pay the restitution. He will also have to complete a mandatory five years community control upon release from prison.
Paul was charged with the same as Morris and took the same agreement. She was sentenced last month to five years of community control, pay a $200 fine, complete drug and alcohol counseling, and pay the restitution.
