A Bowling Green man who pleaded guilty to thefts at a city apartment complex has been sentenced.
Josef Heuser, 21, appeared Feb. 16 in the courtroom of Wood County Common Pleas Judge Joel Kuhlman.
On May 31 at around 6:10 p.m., Bowling Green police were dispatched to the 800 block of Seventh Street on a report that a man was stealing packages. They detained the man, later identified as Heuser.
His backpack was found in the complex’s hallway along with several torn packages.
A resident told police when he got home from the gym, he saw Heuser tearing open packages on the second floor. Heuser started to walk away, then fell down the stairs and was drunk, according to the resident.
Several residents held the doors shut so he could not leave the building. Belongings ordered by residents in the complex, including 90 escitalopram pills, were either found in the hallway or on Heuser.
Earlier in the day, Heuser had choked a teen at City Park.
A resident in the 1000 block of Fairview Avenue reported late afternoon hearing on the police scanner about a theft in the city. The man told police the suspect’s description matched the man who had choked his 14-year-old son, according to the Bowling Green Police Division report. There were scratch marks on both sides of the teen’s neck.
When officers arrived at the Eighth Street apartment, they observed a man wearing the same clothing as described in the previous incident.
Heuser had been indicted in July for felonious assault, a second-degree felony; criminal mischief, a third-degree misdemeanor; two counts petty theft, both first-degree misdemeanors; theft of drugs, a fourth-degree misdemeanor; and failure to comply with underage alcohol laws, a first-degree misdemeanor.
He pleaded guilty in December to the amended count of assault, a first-degree misdemeanor, as well as to the charges of theft of drugs, petty theft and failure to comply with underage alcohol laws.
The remaining two charges were dismissed.
Defense attorney Sara Roller said her client had no prior felony convictions and has had no positive drug or alcohol results during random screening.
When these charges came about, “it was a weekend of debauchery,” Roller said.
“It was the weekend that he shouldn’t have had,” she said, adding that sitting in jail was the best thing that could have happened to Heuser as it was a wake-up call.
“This is usually not me,” Heuser said.
He said he planned to return to the Zepf Center in Cygnet because the treatment has helped a lot.
Wood County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Morgan Spitler recommended community control sanctions.
Kuhlman imposed a sentence of two years community control, during which Heuser was to have no contact with his victims or with Kroger, from which he had admitting stealing a bottle of tequila.
Heuser must enter the Zepf Center program and successfully complete all recommendations.
