GREENFIELD — A man caught burglarizing a Greenfield home earlier this year will spend a decade in prison.
A Greenfield man told investigators he found 40-year-old Jeremy D. Alexander rummaging through his house in early January. But instead of chasing the burglar from the home, the homeowner kept the man inside while dialing 911, according to court documents.
The homeowner had been away from the residence for a few days when the incident occurred. The house is near the Greenfield Police Department, and officers were on scene in a matter of seconds, officials said.
Alexander, 233 E. Main St., Greenfield, was arrested and charged with burglary — as well as possession of drug paraphernalia and unlawful possession of a syringe; he recently pleaded guilty to burglary, a Level 4 felony, as part of a plea agreement he accepted from prosecutors.
Thursday, a judge ordered Alexander to serve a 12-year sentence for the crime: 10 years will be spent in an Indiana Department of Correction facility followed by two years on probation.
During court appearances this week, Alexander settled two other unrelated criminal cases in which he faced charges for selling drugs and smuggling illegal substances and paraphernalia into the county jail, officials said.
In those cases, he pleaded guilty to dealing methamphetamine and possession of a dangerous device, both as Level 5 felonies. He was sentenced to serve five years in prison in those cases, which will run concurrent to his burglary sentence, prosecutors said.
Alexander told police he’d broken into the home to get out of the cold, and he had been staying at the stranger’s house for a few days, court documents state.
The homeowner told officers he’d returned home to find the place ransacked. Food was left out on the counters, and some of his belongings had been packed into bags and backpacks and left by a back door, police said.
Alexander was still inside, police said. The homeowner kept the man from leaving the house while he called police, reports state.
When officers arrived at the house, they found the homeowner outside the residence, blocking Alexander from running out the front door, reports state. Alexander tried to escape the house through a backdoor, but he was stopped by an officer, reports state.
At the scene that morning, Alexander admitted he did not know the homeowner and said he came in through an unlocked door. The homeowner said his house was locked when he left, court documents state.
Officers found a knife strapped to his hip and drug paraphernalia inside one of his pockets, according to police reports. Alexander admitted to having just used heroin, charging documents state.
Alexander was arrested and charged with a Level 2 felony count of burglary while armed with a deadly weapon, along with a Level 5 felony count of unlawful possession of a syringe and possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor, records show.
Alexander pleaded guilty to burglary but as a Level 4 felony. The remaining counts were dropped as part of his plea agreement.
Alexander will serve his prison sentence as part of the Purposeful Incarceration program, which helps prisoners overcome their addictions while earning good-behavior time, officials said.