Indiana man sentenced in local break-ins

CELINA - An Indiana man who had pleaded guilty to charges stemming from 21 thefts and break-ins in Mercer County was sentenced on Wednesday to more than 10 years in prison.

Jason D. Amspaugh, 32, Union City, must serve the prison time after completing a 30-month sentence handed down last month in Auglaize County Common Pleas Court on two counts of felony theft. He still faces charges in Darke, Miami and Shelby counties and in Randolph County, Indiana.

Ten of the 21 charges to which Amspaugh pleaded guilty on June 12 in Mercer County Common Pleas Court were either theft or breaking and entering. Four were grand theft charges and another was failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer. He was sentenced to 124 months in prison for these charges.

The remaining six were misdemeanor charges of petty theft. Amspaugh received 180-day sentences for each of these, to be served concurrently with the 124 months.

Amspaugh also must pay restitution of $96,635, including the return of stolen property. He must forfeit a 2011 Dodge pickup and a 2011 Chevrolet SUV, which reportedly were used in the commission of some of the crimes. He was given a mandatory driver's license suspension of three years. Amspaugh was credited for 332 days already spent in jail awaiting sentencing.

At the sentencing hearing, defense attorney Andrew Pratt argued that his client should serve a long prison sentence and then be granted judicial release. Pratt argued that Amspaugh was a family man with a wife and four children when he encountered stressful situations including a cancer diagnosis. He was prescribed the drug Percocet to help him deal with the pain from cancer treatments and became hooked on opiates and began acting out of character from his former life, Pratt said.

Amspaugh apologized for his actions, reiterating that his prescription medication to help him deal with the pain of his cancer treatments caused his behavior to spin out of control.

Amspaugh was apprehended on Jan. 21 when he reportedly was observed trying to steal something from under the hood of a pickup truck at a Celina dealership. While officers were checking a nearby vehicle, the lights came on and an officer could see a male, later identified as Amspaugh, hunched down inside the cab, according to a Celina police news release.

When confronted by deputies, Amspaugh tried to drive the truck away, but crashed it into a parked car before it crossed Schunck Road, entered a ditch and came to rest, according to the release. Authorities reportedly found an estimated $75,000 worth of stolen merchandise in a search of Amspaugh's property in Union City.