|
SANDUSKY REGISTER If poor planning was a crime, a pair of inept burglary suspects would have
likely been charged with that, too.
Two Willard men -- Dustin Blackburn, 28, and Stephen Hamman, 36 -- were arrested
this weekend for burglarizing a home north of the city after authorities caught
one of the men waiting next to the supposed getaway car, which had run out of
gas.
"This is a new one for me," Norwalk law director Stuart O'Hara said. "If we had
criminal stupidity, these guys would have fit right in."
Late Saturday morning, a woman living on the 3400 block of Hanville Corners Road
returned home from grocery shopping and heard noises coming from her bedroom.
Investigating, the woman saw a man climbing out of a window on the west side of
her one-story ranch home, said Huron County Sheriff's Capt. Bob McLaughlin.
The woman called 911.
The man, later identified as Hamman, fled on foot and headed to Ohio 99, where
he got a ride from a friend to his home in Willard, authorities said.
He was picked up by authorities in Crawford County later that day.
Hamman had rifled through drawers for jewelry and pharmaceuticals and made off
with some of both, authorities said. The burglar dropped several vials full of
pills and jewelry in his haste to make an escape.
When authorities arrived at the burglarized residence, they spotted a 2000
Mercury Cougar down the road with Blackburn standing beside it.
The Cougar was out of gas and was towed from the scene.
Blackburn was taken to the sheriff's office to give a witness statement. During
interviews he admitted to having a role in the burglary and gave up the name of
his accomplice, McLaughlin said.
Blackburn was supposed to be the getaway driver, but his getaway vehicle ran out
of fuel on the way to the burglary, meaning Hamman had to flee on foot, O'Hara
said.
Blackburn evidently was waiting for someone to bring him gas when he was picked
up by police.
McLaughlin said both Hamman and Blackburn are known heroin users.
Hamman already faced charges of trafficking in heroin and a counterfeit
controlled substance when he was busted for the burglary. His bond could be
revoked in that case as a result of the new felony burglary charge.
Blackburn was charged with complicity to burglary since there is no evidence he
entered the home, O'Hara said.
McLaughlin said he suspects the motive behind the break-in was to find drugs to
consume and valuables to sell to raise money to feed their addictions.
|
