A Peebles man was sentenced to at least nine months in prison for breaking and entering last week in Highland County Common Pleas Court.
Harold Cramer, 43, was sentenced on one count of breaking and entering, a fifth-degree felony. He was given 53 days of jail-time credit.
Court records state that factors in Cramer’s sentencing were that he’d had a prior felony or misdemeanor offense of violence within the past two years and at the time of the offense he was serving or had previously served a prison term.
According to court records, on or around Nov. 7, 2021, the Highland County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a breaking and entering at an address on S.R. 136 in New Market Township, A sergeant and deputy responded to the scene and saw multiple people in front of the residence when they arrived. After they parked on the road and activated the overhead lights on the patrol vehicle, an officer exited the vehicle and saw someone running from the front of the residence.
The officer told everyone to stop, then rushed to the front of the residence and initiated contact with the person running, who was out of breath. The officer stayed with that person while another officer walked to the back of the residence to try and locate more people.
A third officer arrived at the residence to help put the person in handcuffs, in the back of one of the patrol vehicles, and then transported the person to the Highland County Justice Center.
An inventory was done on a 2011 Chevrolet Impala and a 2014 Ford Transit Connect van parked at the scene that didn’t belong there. Multiple boxes addressed to someone that previously lived at the residence but moved somewhere else were found inside the vehicles. Because of the number of items found inside the cars and because the three remaining suspects were in the area on foot, the sergeant decided to have the vehicles towed to the Highland County Justice Center to search the cars later after they got a search warrant. The sergeant contacted the victim by cell phone, and the victim said they didn’t give anybody permission to remove items from the residence, according to court records.
Later, on Nov. 8, 2021, at about 2:23 a.m., the Highland County Sheriff’s Office received a report from a residence on Miller Chapel Road that said that someone outside the residence claimed to be from the Highland County Sheriff’s Office and needed help. The sergeant and two deputies from the original report responded to the residence, and after they arrived, met with one of the suspects from the S.R. 136 incident and placed them into custody. The suspect admitted to being inside the residence and taking items. The suspect also said that three other people were also present with them at the residence, court records state.
On Nov. 23, 2021, the sergeant “executed” search warrants on the two vehicles towed from the S.R. 136 scene and found the following items: electric candles, jacket, cottage light set, citrus peel gel, scarves, storage organizer, mascara discovery collection, fleece hood, black sweater, holiday plastic sign, candle set, gnome, food storage container, Bluetooth speaker, cabbage patch doll, facial care kit, purple body towel, dust mop kit and other various items.
In other sentencings, Joshwa Sloan, 27, Lynchburg, was sentenced to three years of community control for retaliation, a third-degree felony.
Court records state that Sloan would be required to successfully complete the Family Recovery Services (FRS) treatment plan and aftercare. They also stated that if he violates any of the community control sanctions, he would be sentenced to between nine and 36 months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $10,000.
According to court records, on or around Dec. 12, 2021, while on duty, an officer was told that Sloan was walking north on Main Street in Lynchburg after he had been asked to leave Pappy’s Pub because he was banned from the establishment previously. The officer found Sloan was “extremely agitated and was screaming profanities” at the officer as a group of people had gathered outside the bar.
The officer tried to de-escalate the situation but couldn’t. Sloan was placed under arrest for persistent disorderly conduct and trespassing. While traveling to the jail, Sloan told the officer that he knew what street they lived on and would go to their home and kill everyone. Sloan also said he was familiar with a certain business opened by the officer’s family and said he would go to that business and kill their family. Sloan said he would get “thugs to help him kill everyone,” according to court records.
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.
