Woman enters not guilty plea on all charges

A Clermont County woman remains incarcerated on a $1 million bond after pleading not guilty Wednesday afternoon to charges stemming from a home invasion in the Mendon area.

Patricia Ann Abrams, 32, of Batavia entered the plea to Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Ingraham during the brief proceeding. A pretrial hearing is slated June 13.

Abrams faces first-degree felony charges of aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery, as well as complicity to commit both crimes. Other charges handed down by Mercer County grand jurors include theft and complicity to commit theft, both first-degree misdemeanors.

She is reportedly part of an armed   trio who went to the Dutton Road home of William Fair, 79, and his 47-year-old daughter Kathy after midnight Feb. 25. Investigators say the Fairs were targeted because the suspects believed they would find money at the home.

Two alleged accomplices - Joshua M. Moreo, 31, of the Spencerville area, and Michael E. Davis, 30, of Cincinnati, - have not yet been indicted. They remain incarcerated on unrelated charges in other jurisdictions.

Moreo, who at one time lived along Deep Cut Road near Mendon and knew of the Fairs, reportedly became involved with Abrams as a pen pal while both were serving time at different prisons. Authorities described Davis as Abrams' friend who came along for the ride from the Cincinnati area. They picked up Moreo in the Lima area.

Moreo knocked on the door at the Fair home and asked for a person who did not live there, according to Mercer County Sheriff's Office reports.

Kathy Fair attempted to close the door after spotting Davis standing nearby in a ski mask. The men forcibly pushed open the door, and Moreo brandished a handgun, threatening to shoot the father unless the Fairs handed over money. Davis reportedly was armed with a knife and Abrams, who initially waited outside in a 1997 Mercury Villager van, also came into the home with a knife.

The intruders attempted to bind the victims with duct tape after pocketing the money, but the Fairs fought back, sustaining scratches and bruises in the process. The thieves left the scene in the vehicle and reportedly stopped somewhere along the way to buy drugs.

Abrams was arrested May 16 in Clermont County after detectives went there to conduct interviews. She was brought back to Mercer County and indicted the following day.

Moreo, who has prior convictions in Mercer County for unauthorized use of a computer, burglary and forgery, was arrested May 16 in Dillsborough, Ind., where he was working with a carnival crew. He was brought to the Allen County Jail in Lima on an outstanding warrant for theft, forgery and receiving stolen property charges.

Authorities arrested Davis on May 22 in the Cincinnati area. He remains incarcerated at the Clermont County Jail on misdemeanor drug charges.

Moreo and Davis also remain possible suspects in a March 18 home invasion north of the Mercer County line near Middle Point.