SIDNEY —Two more arrests have been made by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office in connection with a home invasion and assault of a retired sheriff’s deputy.
Brittany Nicole Morris, 18, of Troy, and Mercedes Leann Paul, 20, of Piqua, were arrested Thursday for their role in the home invasion. Both have been charged with complicity to aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony.
“They were at the (Sidney) Municipal Court arraignment Thursday for the other three,” said Chief Deputy Jim Frye. “The deputies asked them to come to here (Sheriff’s Office) to be interviewed.”
During the course of the interview, said Frye, the pair confessed to their role in the home invasion.
“They gave us their confessions and they were arrested,” said Frye. “We knew that had been involved. We learned that Paul drove the three males to the residence. Morris was a passenger in the vehicle and she was with them.”
Morris appeared in Sidney Municipal Court Friday morning, said Frye. Paul will be arraigned at a later date.
Both women were booked into Shelby County Jail. Paul bonded out, said Frye.
The three men arrested in the case appeared in Sidney Municipal Court Thursday morning. The cases of John Lee Irvin Jr., 24, of Sidney, and Eion Dangerfield, 24, of Piqua, were continued to Oct. 19 for the services of an attorney. The case of William G. Copeland III, 18, of Sidney, was continued to Oct. 19 for a preliminary hearing. Judge Duane Goettemoeller set bond at $100,000 for all the defendants. Irvin is charged with aggravated burglary and the other two are charged with aggravated robbery. Both offenses are a first-degree felonies. Authorities arrested all three men on Wednesday.
The three men allegedly broke into the home of retired deputy Isaac Bollinger, 75, in Plattsville Monday night. They said Bollinger’s grandson owed them $100.
According to a Shelby County Sheriff’s Office report, deputies were dispatched to the residence at 10:30 p.m. on a report of a burglary and assault. Residents said the assailants had fled in a vehicle.
Bollinger was bleeding heavily from several places on his head. He said three men — one black and two white — knocked on his door. He answered the knock and the men 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, he grabbed a chair in his living room to strike them with. At that time, one of the men pulled a gun. Bollinger said the pistol looked like one that had been stolen from him awhile back.
A woman staying with the Bollingers, Brittany Huston, said one of the men grabbed her by the back of her neck as she was attempting to turn a room light on. Another one of the men forced her to the ground and told her to keep her face down in the carpet. Huston told deputies that her boyfriend, Kyle Ellis, is incarcerated in the county jail. She said the men said they were there to get $100 that he owed them for heroin. Huston said the men took a television and Ellis’ class ring from the room.
Nancy Bollinger told deputies she was sitting on the couch in the living room when the three men entered the home. She said the men said they wanted $100; she said Isaac Bollinger told them he didn’t have it.
Deputies said the men pried the door off one of two safes in the home. Apparently nothing was taken from it. The other safe was dragged into a hallway, but apparently was not opened.
A rescue squad took Isaac Bollinger to Wilson Memorial Hospital for treatment of his injuries.
