Photos courtesy of Granville Police Department.
ZACH CORREIA, News Editor– As previously reported by The Denisonian, Granville residents Jack M. Klaus, 19 and Matthew T. Vecchione, 19 were charged on burglary for allegedly breaking into two dorm rooms on the night of May 14, and stealing an estimated $4,100 worth of property from two different rooms across campus. The two residents accused were identified from the entryway video according to the Granville Police Report.
, Granville residents Jack M. Klaus, 19 and Matthew T. Vecchione, 19 were charged on burglary for allegedly breaking into two dorm rooms on the night of May 14, and stealing an estimated $4,100 worth of property from two different rooms across campus. The two residents accused were identified from the entryway video according to the Granville Police Report.
The two were arraigned on May 22 in the Licking County Court of Common Pleas on third-degree charges burglary. Both pleaded not guilty and released on a $5,000 bond agreement each. If convicted each faced a possible five-year prison term and $10,000 maximum fine.
On July 26, a motion was filed for Klaus for “Intervention in Lieu of Conviction” (ILC). The motion, under section 2951.041 of the Ohio Revised Code, allows for an offender with a non-violent fourth-degree felony charge or under to enter a guilty plea but not to be sentenced to prison if the offender “alleges that drug or alcohol usage by the offender was a factor leading to the criminal offense.” In lieu of prison the offered would be then placed under probation. Vecchione entered the same motion in his case on July 30.
In order for the ILC motion to be accepted both charges against each offender were lowered by the court to the fourth-degree felony of trespassing in a habitation. Forth degree felonies carry with them under normal sentencing between six and eighteen months in prison and a maximum $5,000 fine.
The Court agreed to Vecchione motion on August 28, and placed him under two years probation and ordered him to pay restitution. Klaus’s motion was accepted on September 5 and was placed under two years probation as well. Both cases are now closed.