2010 Tippecanoe County Prosecutor’s Office in the News December 30 , 2010: Lafayette Journal and Courier Local teen gets 14 years for robbery, beating By SOPHIA VORAVONG; [email protected] A Lafayette teenager was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in prison for his involvement in a robbery and bloody attack at a north end home that hospitalized the victim. Johnny L. Ellison, 18, pleaded guilty earlier this month in Tippecanoe Superior Court 1 to an amended count of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, a Class B felony. He had been charged with robbery as a Class A felony, which carries a heftier penalty of 20 to 50 years incarceration. The charges stem from an investigation on April 2, at a home on North 14th Street in Lafayette. There, officers found Wendell Washburn, 58, with extensive facial injuries. Blood was found smeared on the walls and in several parts of the home. Wendell told officers he had been jumped by two males named "Johnny" and "Cody." Ellison admitted in court to kicking and pushing Washburn so that he could steal Washburn's money. According to court documents, Washburn was admitted to intensive care and had bleeding on his brain. He was later released from St. Elizabeth East hospital. Judge Randy Williams on Wednesday also ordered Ellison to serve two years on probation after his release and pay $384 in restitution for Washburn's medical costs. Ellison's co-defendant, 20-year-old Cody Bryant of Lafayette, pleaded guilty Tuesday to the same Class B felony. He will be sentenced Feb. 11. The two men were identified as suspects when Ellison's aunt walked up to Washburn's home while police were investigating. They made off with $25. December 29, 2010: Lafayette Journal and Courier Teen charged as adult in series of thefts By SOPHIA VORAVONG; [email protected] Teen charged as adult in series of thefts A Lafayette teenager will be tried as an adult on accusations that she stole wallets and credits cards from various offices on the Purdue University campus. India Austin, 16, was charged Tuesday in Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 with five counts of forgery; four counts of theft; two counts of receiving stolen property; one count of attempted fraud; and one count of theft. All 13 counts are felonies. Austin also was charged with misdemeanor false informing. She was being held on a $25,000 bond Tuesday afternoon at Tippecanoe County Jail. The thefts occurred between Nov. 24 and Nov. 30 from offices in Stewart Center, Pfendler Hall, Dauch Alumni Center, Beering Hall and Hovde Hall. The teen was arrested after she allegedly attempted to use one of the stolen credit cards at Tippecanoe Mall, and a store clerk contacted Lafayette police. Austin was waived from juvenile jurisdiction to adult court on Dec. 21 by Tippecanoe Superior Court 3 Judge Loretta Rush and Magistrate Faith Graham. According to the court's waiver order, which was filed with Tuesday's charges, Austin has a lengthy criminal history that includes arrests for residential entry, battery, burglary, theft and fraud on a financial institution between June 2007 and November 2010. She's been placed on electronic monitoring, at Cary Home for Children and at the Indiana Department of Correction, among other services. Rush and Graham noted that Austin has "shown no remorse for her crimes and is a flight risk." December 29, 2010: Lafayette Journal and Courier Guilty plea offered in strong-arm robbery By SOPHIA VORAVONG; [email protected] A Lafayette man faces six to 20 years in prison for his involvement in a strong-arm robbery at a north-end home that hospitalized the home's occupant. Cody Bryant, 20, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Tippecanoe Superior Court 1 to an amended count of robbery resulting in bodily injury, a Class B felony. He had been charged with robbery as a Class A felony, which carries a heftier penalty of 20 to 50 years incarceration. Bryant is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 11. Judge Randy Williams will decide at that hearing whether to accept Bryant's plea agreement with the Tippecanoe County prosecutor's office. The charges stem from an investigation on April 2, at a home on North 14th Street in Lafayette. There, officers found Wendell Washburn, 58, with extensive facial injuries. Blood was found smeared on the walls and in several parts of the home. Wendell told officers he had been jumped by two males named "Johnny" and "Cody." According to court documents, Washburn was admitted to intensive care and had bleeding on his brain. He was later released from St. Elizabeth East hospital. Bryant's co-defendant, 18-year-old Johnny L. Ellison of Lafayette, pleaded guilty earlier this month to the same count. He's scheduled to be sentenced today. The two men were identified as suspects when Ellison's aunt walked up to Washburn's home while police were investigating. December 29, 2010: WLFI TV Man sentenced for dealing drugs to cops Cocaine was bought and sold to Street Crimes Unit LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A Lafayette man was sentenced Wednesday for drug dealing. Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington said 53-year-old Gregory Richardson bought and sold cocaine to the Lafayette Police Street Crimes Unit in October of 2009. Richardson was sentenced to 13 years in prison. Six years will be spent in the Department of Corrections, three in Community Corrections and four years on probation. Harrington said Richardson has prior convictions for theft, burglary, OWI and resisting law enforcement. December 29, 2010: WLFI TV Lafayette man sentenced for robbery Victim was beaten, robbed $25 LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A Lafayette man was sentenced for robbery Wednesday. Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington said 18-year-old Johnny Ellison was sentenced to 14 years in prison for robbery. Eillison was also sentenced to two years on probation. Harrington said Ellison and his co-defendant, Cody Bryant, entered a Lafayette man's house to collect $25 and ended up beating the man, who is mentally disabled. Bryant is awaiting sentencing. December 23, 2010: Lafayette Journal and Courier Burglar, with ties to homicide case, gets 10 years By SOPHIA VORAVONG; [email protected] A man with suspected ties to Lafayette homicide victim Kory Rogers was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for an unrelated business burglary. Wesley H. Coffey, 35, of Avondale, Ariz., pleaded guilty in November in Tippecanoe Superior Court 1 to two counts of burglary, a Class C felony, and two counts of theft, a Class D felony. The break-in occurred overnight on July 18, 2007, at a dental office on Cason Street in Lafayette. Coffey used to live in the Lafayette area. According to court documents, Coffey was still inside the dental office when an employee showed up about 5:30 a.m. The suspect fled on foot -- shedding clothing and a duffel bag along the way. Coffey became a suspect when Lafayette police found him lying face down on the front porch of a home on 23rd Street. He claimed to have been sleeping, despite sweating and breathing heavily. A flashlight and latex gloves were found in his pocket. The duffel bag contained $25 in change, which matched the amount missing from a change bag at the dental office. Court records show that Coffey had been scheduled to plead guilty on several occasions in 2009 and 2010 but, for unclear reasons, that never took place. A warrant for his arrest was issued this past April 21, 13 days after Rogers was fatally shot in the chest at his home off Teal Road. Lafayette detectives who investigated the homicide suspect that Coffey and two friends, 30-year-old Edward Zaragoza of Mooresville and 19-year-old Clint J. Laxton of Lafayette, conspired to rob Rogers just three days before he was killed. As of Wednesday, only Zaragoza has been charged in the robbery conspiracy. And while no one has been directly charged in Rogers' death, the Tippecanoe County prosecutor's office has previously acknowledged that Zaragoza is a suspect. Zaragoza remained on no-bond status Wednesday in the Tippecanoe County Jail for contempt and various other felony charges. Coffey, too, has still-unresolved felony cases in Tippecanoe County. They include accusations that he stole a large amount of marijuana from one dealer and sold it to Rogers. Other outstanding charges are in connection to business burglaries that occurred during the past few years. December 22, 2010: Lafayette Journal and Courier Admitted ID maker gets prison time By SOPHIA VORAVONG; [email protected] An illegal immigrant living in West Lafayette will be deported from the United States as part of his punishment for operating a counterfeiting scheme. The 21-year-old man, who was charged as John Doe, pleaded guilty last month in Tippecanoe Circuit Court to one count of counterfeiting, a Class D felony. He was sentenced Monday by Judge Don Daniel to 18 months in prison -- Indiana's advisory sentence for a D felony. Doe also provided his real name, Jose Guillermo Mejia-Saucedo, and told the court that he was born in Mexico, said Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington. The charge stemmed from an investigation by the Logansport Police Department, which used a confidential informant who purchased counterfeit documents on Aug. 3, 2010, from an apartment at 2926 Horizon Drive in West Lafayette. Mejia -Saucedo and a co -defendant, Jane Doe, lived at that address. Jane Doe pleaded guilty last month to the same charge. She is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 7. Tippecanoe County sheriff's deputies then helped Logansport police search the couple's apartment. This case was part of a larger investigation by Logansport into a suspected counterfeiting operation there.