Lima teen sentenced for role in firearm thefts
Jun. 21—LIMA — "If you sleep with dogs, you might get fleas."
Allen County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Reed turned to that old axiom Monday before sentencing a Lima teenager to a minimum of 7 1/2 years in prison for stealing guns and burglary, felonies of the first- and third-degrees, respectively.
Reed said Jermaine Daniel, 19, of Lima, despite a difficult home life, had shown a "lot of potential" by excelling athletically in school before falling into bad company.
"I'd like to see if there's a way we can get that potential back," said the judge, who could have put Daniel behind bars for a quarter of a century if the maximum sentences had been imposed.
Daniel was indicted in February on four counts of grand theft of a firearm, felonies of the first degree. The following month he was indicted on a second-degree felony county of burglary in an unrelated case. Incidents in both cases took place while Daniel was already on probation in Union County for having a firearm in a motor vehicle while in Marysville.
In May Daniel pleaded guilty to two first-degree felony counts of grand theft of a firearm and one amended count of third-degree robbery as part of a deal with prosecutors in Allen County.
The firearm robberies took place on Dec. 8 at Hesseling and Son Gun Shop and Dec. 10 at American Pawn. Both businesses are located on Elida Road and both are federally-licensed firearms dealers.
According to court documents, the owner of American Pawn told police that three Black males entered the business on Dec. 10. As one of the men was being assisted by a store employee, the two other men — identified as Alexander Rose and Daniel — walked around the store and looked at firearms.
The men were captured on in-store video taking a pistol from a display case. Rose took a gun and put it inside his pants, court records show, then Daniel did the same. The pair reportedly stole two pistols each from the display case.
Reed said Daniel seemingly looked straight into the camera during the robbery.
"Did you want to get caught?" the judge asked.
Daniel indicated that he did.
The burglary charge against Daniel stemmed from a Jan. 13 incident in which a homeowner on North Pierce Street in Lima called police after his home security system video showed several subjects forcing entry into his residence.
Officers responded to scene and saw subjects fleeing the home. Daniel was taken into custody. He told police he and other suspects broke into Groves' residence to steal marijuana and guns. In court on Monday Daniel told the judge that during his arrest in Marysville he was in possession of a firearm owned by the homeowner on Pierce Street and that he had received threats against his family from that individual if the firearm was not replaced.
