By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — A Greenville man was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday in the Darke County Common Pleas Court. Judge Jonathan P. Hein presided.

Jesse M. Cheadle, 31, entered a guilty plea to burglary, a felony of the second degree, with a specification of a firearm being present. The offense date occurred on April 19. Assistant State Prosecutor Deborah Quigley spoke about the plea agreement the court had come to agree on.

“The defendant is entering a plea of guilty to burglary in the sole count. It is a felony of the second degree,” Quigley said. “The defendant is also entering a plea of guilty to the specification that he had a firearm under his control while committing the event. The state would move to dismiss the second specification which is the repeat violent offender.”

The state requested a mandatory one-year prison sentence be imposed on specification one and a four-year term on the burglary charge before the victim had a chance to speak. The state noted the defendant has had numerous opportunities to get treatment that he did not take.

The court allowed the female victim the chance to speak about the case. She said on the day of the event, she had been a resident of Greenville for 12 years and had been in that apartment for that long. She said that day, she had never locked her door once, and that day had been strange. The victim’s sister had heard someone run up the stairs and then run down the hallway.

“That does not sound like a burglar to me. It sounds like a problem,” the female victim said.

She said Cheadle went into her apartment, ransacked it, and did not make any effort to steal anything of importance.

“Who throws chairs and plays with cables but doesn’t go near the safe or medicine cabinet?” The victim said. “It does not make sense.”

The victim said she would not call Cheadle a burglar because she was never intimidated, he listened to her, and he respected what she had asked him to do. Cheadle said he was looking for his mother and a lady had brought him to the apartment.

“This is not something somebody in their right mind at the time, whether it be by drugs or other, would do,” the victim said.

She said the system does not work and believed nothing good would come out of a prison sentence. She said she would like him to go to therapy and mental health treatments in order to combat the underlying issues that make a repeat offender. Once the victim was finished speaking, Cheadle addressed the court himself.

“It was never my intention to commit a crime on the day I caught these charges. I was under a mental psychosis that made me wander into that apartment. I wasn’t there for any financial gain or to commit a crime,” Cheadle said.

Cheadle said it does not justify his actions by any means nor does it make excuses for what he did. Judge Hein sentenced Cheadle a four-year prison sentence on the burglary charge plus a one-year mandatory sentence on the firearm specification. He will be required to complete post-release supervision a total of 18 months up to 36, and any violations could add up to two more years in prison.

Cheadle has 80 days jail time credited, and he will be given the opportunity to reduce his sentence by 5 to 15 percent for good behavior. However, bad behavior could result in up to 50 percent more time added on the original sentencing as well.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].