According to the deputy’s affidavit, a female reported that a male had forced his way into her residence armed with a baseball bat.  The deputy noted that, when the female showed him the door that the intruder had kicked in, part of the door frame was broken and part of the door trim had come completely off of the door frame.  The intruder had indicated to the female that he was looking for her grandson and proceeded to search the home, room by room.  The intruder was later identified with help from another female who said that the man had also broken into her house that same day. 

As the assigned deputy prosecutor, I filed burglary charges.  The defendant ultimately pled guilty to Burglary as a Level 4 felony.  The plea agreement gave Judge Verkamp the authority to decide what the defendant’s sentence would be.  Under Indiana law, Judge Verkamp could have sentenced the defendant to between 2 and 12 years in prison.  However, the law gave Judge Verkamp much discretion to hand out the sentence that he thought was best. 

Judge Verkamp sentenced the defendant to 6 years.  However, Judge Nathan Verkamp decided that the defendant would be released from jail so he could serve the remainder of his sentence in Dubois County Community Corrections, beginning in work release (meaning that the defendant would be allowed to come and go for work, appointments, day passes, church, etc.). 

The sentence to “Community Corrections” meant that the defendant could later be moved to home detention (meaning that the defendant would live at home wearing an ankle monitor, coming and going from his residence whenever he was approved to do so). 

The defendant, who seemed to be a stranger to the grandmother whose house he broke into, armed himself with a baseball bat, kicked in her door, and searched the home room by room – while she was home. 

Judge Verkamp decided that it would be best for this defendant (who wasn’t a Dubois County resident) to stay right here in our community to serve his sentence.