Burglary suspect to be sentenced May 4
A Greencastle man charged with burglary and theft in connection with a string of eight residential robberies or residential robbery attempts that took place between December 2007 and July 2008 has entered into a plea agreement and will be sentenced on May 4 on one Class B felony burglary count.
Edward Alan Jones, 26, could receive a maximum 20-year sentence. In exchange for his guilty plea to the burglary count, one additional count of Class B felony burglary, a count of Class D felony theft and a suggested habitual offender designation will be dropped if the plea agreement, which has been taken under advisement, is accepted by Putnam County Circuit Court Judge Matt Headley.
Jones has been lodged at the Putnam County Jail since his arrest on July 31, 2008. The robberies he is accused of committing occurred in the area of Manhattan Road and C.R. 550S. All the robberies happened in the middle of the night while victims were home sleeping, court documents said. Money and jewelry were listed among the stolen items.
Originally, Jones was set to go to trial on Feb. 11. That date was continued indefinitely when Jones' court appointed attorney, Melinda Jackman-Hanlin, requested a psychiatric examination to determine whether or not Jones was competent to stand trial.
Jackman-Hanlin told Headley that Jones has been diagnosed with various mental illnesses and personality disorders, and that he claimed to have heard voices in the past. She said Jones also self-mutiliates.
Several weeks later, Jones withdrew his request for a psychiatric evaluation and he entered into a plea agreement.
At his initial hearing on Aug. 4, Jones was released on his own recognizance, but was held in jail because the new charges against him violated the terms of the probation he was already on for a September 2006 Class C felony burglary conviction. In that case, Jones was ordered to serve three years of a five-year Indiana Department of Corrections sentence.
He was released from jail in that case on Nov. 1, 2007, and his probation was revoked on Aug. 1, 2008.