Menu
Admitted burglar gets 12 years for break-ins at Heritage Lake
A 23-year-old Putnam County man, responsible for a number of residential break-ins and burglaries in the Heritage Lake area during 2017, was sentenced Friday to two concurrent 12-year sentences in the Indiana Department of Correction.
Austin W. McFerron, who is already serving time at the Putnamville Correctional Facility for a conviction in a 2018 Marion County case, was sentenced by Putnam Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges to 12 years on each of two counts of burglary with six years executed and six years suspended on probation.
The judge momentarily pondered home detention following McFerron’s future release but quickly thought better of it.
“I’m more interested in you getting a job when you get out and start paying on these restitutions,” Bridges told McFerron.
At least two restitution requirements accompanied the charges against McFerron for a string of incidents occurring in the second half of 2017 at Heritage Lake-- $688 in one case and $8,372 in another.
McFerron appeared before Judge Bridges Friday morning in a change-of-plea hearing and sentencing, agreeing to plead guilty to two Level 4 felony counts of burglary, while two Level 6 counts of theft against him were dismissed.
Already serving eight years for an April 2018 conviction of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, McFerron pleaded guilty to breaking in and burglarizing the Heritage Lake homes of Daniel Trueblood and Mike Leissner. Those were just two of a number of lake area cases for which authorities believe McFerron was responsible.
During talks with investigators, McFerron admitted being addicted to heroin, court records state.
He was arrested after a several-month investigation by Putnam County Sheriff’s Department deputies who determined McFerron to be a suspect after a search of pawn store records in the area showed he had pawned or sold more than 300 items at six or seven shops. That’s an extremely high volume of transactions, and seen as a sign of illegal activity, the probable cause affidavit noted.
When authorities began comparing items reported stolen in recent Heritage Lake break-ins with the items McFerron had been pawning, several matches materialized.
For example, on Oct. 25, 2017, McFerron and another suspect were arrested at an Indianapolis pawn shop while attempting to pawn two rifles and a compound bow, the exact weapons reportedly taken in a Heritage Lake burglary just four hours earlier.
In a search warrant served on McFerron’s home in the Patriots Landing portion of the Heritage Lake community, authorities seized jewelry (rings, necklaces, watches), an air compressor, Honda power washer, Craftsman chainsaw, XBox, Playstation 3, Nintendo WiiU, DVD player and a socket set, matching items reported taken in a variety of lakeside burglaries.
McFerron later admitted to an Oct. 31, 2017 burglary at the Mike Leissner residence in Patriots Landing where he said he entered the home with another subject and stole two handguns. In a police report, the homeowner reported two missing handguns, along with some jewelry items (including his pewter-colored wedding band), rings and necklaces, as well as a plastic container full of change.
Giving McFerron credit for admitting to the burglaries, Judge Bridges nonetheless said his criminal history was an aggravating factor in the sentencing, outweighing any mitigators.
In addition to the Marion County case -- for which he has been incarcerated at Putnamville for 491 actual days -- McFerron’s criminal record also includes Hendricks County convictions for armed robbery in both 2013 and 2015.
During Friday’s hearing, McFerron’s court-appointed counsel, Mindi Jackman-Hanlin, said he also has a pending Clay County case. He expects to be sentenced to six years for burglary and theft in a 2017 incident there, the attorney noted.
Prior to Friday’s sentencing, McFerron’s projected release date was listed as Nov. 15, 2023 on the DOC offender website.
Judge Bridges, pondering how the Putnam sentencing and pending Clay County case might affect when McFerron can get out of prison, mused, “I’ll be retired.”
McFerron was remanded to the custody of the Putnam County Jail and returned to Putnamville Friday afternoon.