Carey man sentenced to 4 years in prison for home burglaries

Brendan Hoffman

A Carey man was sentenced to four years in prison Tuesday morning in Wyandot County Common Pleas Court for burglary, a second-degree felony; receiving stolen property, a fifth-degree felony; and trespassing in a habitation when a person is present or likely to be present, a fourth-degree felony.
Brendan M. Hoffman, 22, of 314 E. Findlay St., was ordered to pay restitution to his victims in the amounts of $1,676.61 for damage to a property on CH 96 near Carey; and $2,375 for unreturned items belonging to another victim, according to Wyandot County Prosecuting Attorney Jonathan Miller.
Miller said most of the items involved in the receiving stolen property charge were returned to the victim and all unreturned items were included in the restitution amount. He said the items were found in the trunk of Hoffman’s vehicle after his initial arrest April 10.
The three charges stem from three separate incidents and involved three different victims, Miller added.
“These convictions were the result of diligent investigations by the Carey Police Department and the Wyandot County Sheriff’s Office,” he said.
According to a bill of information filed June 15 in common pleas court, the trespass charge stemmed from an April 9 incident during which Hoffman admitted to knowingly trespass by knowingly entering or remaining on the land or premises of another without privilege to do so. The residence was a neighboring apartment in Carey.
According to a report from the WCSO, another incident took place April 10 on CH 96 in rural Carey. Hoffman was arrested that day and indicted for the incident April 11.
Hoffman told the court he was taking full responsibility for his actions and apologized to the victims.
“We are talking about a young man who found himself going down the wrong path,” said Hoffman’s attorney, Kent D. Nord. “Drugs played a major role in the decisions my client was making (and) the poor choices that he’d made. … He had a job; he just allowed the drugs to take over his life.”
Miller said the joint change of plea agreement included a recommended basic prison term of four years on the burglary charge, 17 months on the trespassing charge and 11 months on the charge of receiving stolen property.
Judge Kathleen Aubry followed those recommendations and imposed those sentences on Hoffman, but the trespassing and receiving stolen property sentences will run concurrently with the burglary sentence.
“(Hoffman) has shown genuine remorse, but cannot give back to the victims their sense of security,” Aubry said. “He is undoubtedly a drug addict, but he took the attitude that others should pay for (his addiction).
“(A victim) experienced serious psychological and economic harm,” the judge added. “Her fear and paranoia caused her to move back into her parents’ home, which resulted in a longer commute for her to work.”
Hoffman was ordered to have no contact with any of the victims.
Aubry said she would request the Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation make available to Hoffman all programs that might help to address his addictions. She also found that Hoffman was “not one of the most dangerous offenders” and therefore eligible to earn days of credit for each month of participation in educational or employment programs in prison.
“Mr. Hoffman, I hope you use this as a starting point to combat your addiction and turn this around because you seem to have a background that would allow you to do so,” Aubry said.
Hoffman also will receive three years of post-release control after his prison term.
He was given credit for 113 days served in the Wyandot County Jail and ordered to pay court costs.

By ALISSA PAOLELLA
Staff writer

Posted by Daily Chief on August 1, 2012. Filed under Local News,Recent Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry