SIDNEY — William Blankenship, 19, of Sidney, appeared before Shelby County Common Pleas Court Judge James Stevenson Monday to change his plea to guilty.
On Sept. 23, 2015, at around 12:30 a.m. a 38-year-old female was walking in the 100 block of N. Walnut Ave., Sidney, when three male subjects wearing hoodies and sock hats approached her. All three were armed with what appeared to be handguns and demanded the victim’s property. The victim attempted to call the police using her cell phone.
“At that time they struck her over the face and head area with either a weapon or a metal object, causing serious fractures to her face, her jaw, her nose and chin. It was a brutal attack,” Sidney Police Chief William Balling said at the time.
Early the next afternoon investigators from the Sidney police department received investigative leads that led to the identity of the three individuals who were involved and information to the location the suspects were staying at. As a result the tactical response teams from Sidney, Piqua and Shelby County Sheriff’s Office were deployed and executed a search warrant at 233 ½ N. West Ave. in Sidney.
At that time two of three suspects were taken into custody. Officers and investigators executed a search warrant at Blankenship’s residence, 827 S. Ohio Ave., but discovered that he had left the residence prior to officers’ arrival.
An arrest warrant was issued for Blankenship. He turned himself into the Sheriff’s later that afternoon. Blankenship was charged with one count of aggravated robbery, a felony of the first-degree, with a specification that he used a firearm in the incident. He originally plead innocent to the charge.
On Monday he entered a guilty plea on the condition that the state dismiss the firearms specification. There is a mandatory 5-years in community control for a first-degree felony. The maximum prison time he could get is 11 years and the maximum fine he would have to pay is $20,000.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 12, 2016, at 10 a.m. The other individuals charged in this event are still going through court processes.
Also on Monday, John Miller, 26, Kentucky, changed his plea to guilty.
In July, Miller was originally charged with one count of rape, a felony of the first-degree, stemming from an event in 2002 when he was accused of engaging in sexual intercourse with a female child less than 13-years of age.
On Monday he entered a guilty plea on the condition the charge be amended to attempted gross sexual imposition, a felony of the fourth-degree. He will also have to be classified as a sexual offender and there is a joint recommendation of community control. He will also undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation as part of the sexual offender process.
The maximum amount of prison time he could get is 18 months and have to pay up to a maximum of $5,000 in fines. Since it is a sexual offence he will have to serve a mandatory of 5-years community control.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan 7, 2016, at 1:30 p.m.
