On Friday, May 2, Judge Otho Eyster in the Knox County Court of Common Pleas sentenced seven men and one woman for various felony crimes according to Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher.

Benjamin A. Brown, 20, East High Street, Mount Vernon, was convicted of breaking and entering, theft and vandalism, and Andrew R. Shaw, 21, North Division Street, Mount Vernon, was convicted of vandalism. Brown and Shaw received 11 month prison sentences. Thatcher said the night of November 12, 2007, Brown broke into a storage shed at a Mount Vernon golf course where he and a third co-defendant removed golf carts and several tools stored inside. Brown, Shaw and the co-defendant then drove the golf carts on the course causing a significant amount of damage to five of the greens and damaging the golf carts in the process. Brown and Shaw were also ordered to pay $2,275.00 each to the golf course as restitution for the damages they caused. Patrolman Justin Trowbridge, Mount Vernon Police Department, investigated the cases.

Dustin McDowell, 18, South Catherine Street, Mount Vernon, was convicted of burglary, grand theft of a motor vehicle and breaking and entering. Thatcher said McDowell and a co-defendant burglarized the attached garage of a Pleasant Valley Road residence where they stole a 1995 GMC Jimmy, in the early morning hours of June 15, 2007. Later the same day, McDowell and the co-defendant broke into two concession buildings at a little league ballpark, in Frazeysburg. The case was investigated by Detective Sergeant Gary Rohler and Detective Roger Brown, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, and Detective Todd Mahle, Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office. McDowell was convicted of another breaking and entering charge, in a separate case. Thatcher said on December 5, 2007, at about 3:15 a.m., Sergeant Troy Glazier, MVPD, responded to a suspicious person call on Coshocton Avenue where McDowell was arrested for obstructing official business and criminal trespass. Sergeant Glazier followed the footprints McDowell left in the snow back to an East Ohio Avenue business that had been broken into. Later that morning, McDowell confessed to Detective Craig Feeney, MVPD, that he broke into the business. McDowell received prison sentences totaling 17 months in both cases, and he was ordered to pay over $2,500.00 in restitution to the victims in his cases.

James C. Beach, Jr., 34, Mount Vernon, was convicted of burglary and sentenced to a 17 month prison term. Thatcher said, on November 21, 2007, Beach entered a Coshocton Avenue apartment without the permission of the occupant where he stole a number of gold necklaces and a Playstation. Detective Corporal Matt Dailey, MVPD, secured surveillance camera footage showing Beach entering the apartment building and the statement of a witness who saw Beach entering the apartment. Detective Dailey also recovered a portion of the stolen jewelry Beach sold at two pawn shops, in Newark. Beach was ordered to pay $1,450.00 in restitution to the victim in his case for unrecovered stolen property.

Sean Leyden, 19, Newark, was convicted of breaking and entering and grand theft of a motor vehicle. Thatcher said, on October 19, 2007, Leyden and a co-defendant broke into a garage near Gambier where he removed a Honda quad-runner. Leyden was sentenced to a 15 month prison term. Detective Sergeant Gary Rohler and Detective David Light, KCSO, investigated the case.

Keith C. Brandenburg, 23, Seventh Avenue, Mount Vernon, waived the right to have his case presented to a Grand Jury and entered a guilty plea to a charge of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor as contained within a Bill of Information. Thatcher said Brandenburg admitted to engaging in sexual conduct with a 15 year old female, on November 24, 2007. Detective Tom Bumpus, KCSO, investigated the case. The Court also accepted Brandenburg’s guilty plea as an admission to a violation of the conditions of his community control supervision for domestic violence convictions, in 2006 and 2007. Brandenburg was sentenced to a 17 month prison term for the unlawful sexual conduct with a minor case to be served concurrently with the 17 month prison sentences he received in the domestic violence cases. He was ordered to pay $866.00 as restitution to the victim in the unlawful sexual conduct with a minor case. As a Tier II sex offender, when Brandenburg is released from prison he will be required to register his address with authorities for the next 25 years.

Richard J. Petrella was convicted of theft by deception and six counts of passing bad checks. Petrella was sentenced to 11 months in prison and ordered to pay $8,855.00 as restitution to the victims in his case. Thatcher said Petrella was indicted in June 1999, but an arrest warrant issued when he failed to appear for his trial, in February 2000. Petrella was arrested on the warrant, in February 2008. Detective Tom Bumpus investigated the case when he was employed with the Mount Vernon Police Department.

On June 15, 2007, Nicole M. Bradford’s 17 month prison sentence for a burglary conviction was suspended while she served a three year term of community control supervision. Today, Bradford admitted that she violated the conditions of her community control supervision by failing to report a change of address to her supervising officer and by failing to keep an appointment with her supervising officer. Judge Eyster imposed the 17 month prison sentence