The first time William Bradshaw III broke into a Hamer Township residence earlier this year, he was smart enough to use a long stick to point a security camera in the home away from himself, according to court records. But when he entered the home a second time and tried the same strategy, he knocked the camera off the wall completely, and when he tried to replace it, it flopped back toward him and tagged his face — netting authorities a incriminating security tape and Bradshaw a six-year prison sentence.
Bradshaw, 34, was sentenced Friday afternoon in Highland County Common Pleas Court after pleading guilty to two counts of burglary, a second-degree felony, less than a month after a grand jury handed down his indictment.
As previously reported, Bradshaw was indicted Aug. 7 on the two burglary charges, plus one count of grand theft of firearms, a third-degree felony, after investigators said the Hamer Township homeowner’s pistol went missing around the time Bradshaw broke into the home, according to court records.
The firearm theft charge was dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
According to a law enforcement affidavit filed in the case, the victim initially called police because his pistol had gone missing and he believed someone had broken into his house.
The affidavit said security footage of the first break-in shows a long stick coming around a corner into the room and nudging the camera to a different angle to obscure whoever entered the room.
The second time around, the stick appears again, this time knocking the camera to the ground, the affidavit said. Later, the tape shows the camera being picked up and placed back on the wall, but it falls to the right — showing Bradshaw’s face and identifying tattoos, according to the affidavit.
Law enforcement later found Bradshaw and questioned him, and he admitted to breaking into the home but denied stealing the pistol, the affidavit said.
Bradshaw was given 69 days of credit for time served and ordered to pay $765 to Ronald Mullis, according to court documents.
Also Friday, Pearlee Newcomb, 31, Hillsboro, was sentenced to seven months in prison after pleading guilty to failure to register a change of address as a registered sex offender, a fourth-degree felony.
Newcomb was indicted on the charge in July, according to court records.
Judge Rocky Coss said Newcomb’s initial conviction was gross sexual imposition in Adams County.
Reach David Wright at 937-402-257o, or on Twitter @DavidWrighter.
