Menu
Bainbridge vandalism suspect uncooperative at scene, in court
Mum was the word in court Wednesday.
A 30-year-old Bainbridge man who allegedly damaged three businesses and stole items from his roommate would not cooperate in court, acting much the same as he had at the scene of the Jan. 9 incident.
Joseph M. McIlwain made his initial appearance Wednesday before Judge Denny Bridges in Putnam Superior Court but failed to respond when the judge asked his name.
After a few moments of silence, Bridges ordered court deputies to remove McIlwain from the defendants’ table, usher him to the rear of the courtroom and reset his court appearance for a week later, Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 1:30 p.m.
McIlwain is facing four Class A misdemeanor charges, including three counts of criminal mischief and one of resisting law enforcement.
Wednesday’s silence in court wasn’t the first time McIlwain failed to answer to authority.
When Bainbridge Police Chief Ronald Campbell responded to a report of an individual throwing bricks through windows at businesses along U.S. 36, or Pat Rady Way, at 10:58 p.m. Jan. 9, Campbell confronted McIlwain near the Dari-ette and ordered him to turn around and put his hands behind his back.
Instead, McIlwain reportedly just stared at Campbell with “an angry look on his face.”
“Joseph would not talk to me and would not show me his hands or follow instructions,” Campbell noted in the probable cause affidavit.
After asking the suspect to give him his hand several times so he could apply restraints, Campbell grabbed McIlwain’s left arm and pushed him toward his truck.
“Before we knew it, we were on the ground,” Campbell continued, noting that he was able to get the suspect handcuffed a few seconds later but McIlwain then refused to get back to his feet.
That’s when Putnam County EMS was called to check him out. Even then it took four officers to pick McIlwain up and put him on the cot, the report added.
McIlwain is charged with throwing bricks and chunks of concrete through three windows and two doors at Mannon Hearing Care and two windows at the Dari-ette. A car belonging to his roommate, Joseph Christopher Fields, was also reportedly hit with a brick.
The following day, Campbell was informed that Salon 36 had its front-door glass broken out as well by a chunk of concrete.
Additionally, Fields reported that several of his belongings, including three one-ounce bars of silver, had allegedly been taken by McIlwain.
The five windows and two glass doors were listed as a $5,000 loss in the police report.