Richard Joseph Duffy Jr., 36, Indianapolis
HANCOCK COUNTY — An Indianapolis man facing up to 12 years in prison for a felony burglary crime in April of 2021 had the most serious charge against him changed to a lesser felony following a plea agreement hearing in Hancock County Circuit Court in late August.
Richard Joseph Duffy Jr., 36, was originally charged with a Level 4 felony count of burglary, a Level 6 felony count of operating a vehicle after being a habitual traffic offender, and two Class A misdemeanor counts of theft and false informing.
According to court records, the Level 4 felony was changed to a lesser Level 6 felony count of residential entry while the two Class A misdemeanor charges were dismissed. Judge Scott Sirk sentenced Duffy on Tuesday, Aug. 30 to a two-year term in the Indiana Department of Corrections and stated the term is to run consecutively with a prior crime.
Duffy was given the same sentence for the Level 6 felony count of being a habitual traffic offender. Court records also show he was given 364 days of jail credit. He is still currently listed as an inmate in the county jail.
Kristen Leigh Hamilton, 31, Indianapolis, who was with Duffy on the night of the incident in April of 2021, has been charged with a Level 4 felony count of burglary and two Class A misdemeanor charges of theft and false informing. She is slated to be sentenced Thursday, Oct. 20. A plea agreement was filed in her case in mid-August, court records show.
According to a probable cause affidavit, deputies in April of 2021 were called to the 5000 block of West County Road 200N on a report of suspicious activity after someone saw a U-Haul truck pull away from a residence in the area.
A deputy from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department caught up with the truck and watched the driver commit several traffic violations before pulling the truck over in the 2000 block of North County Road 600W, the affidavit said.
The driver, later identified as Duffy, appeared nervous and had what the officer said was a marijuana cigarette in his hand. They also noted a female passenger, later identified as Hamilton, in the truck. Both, however, gave police false names, investigators said in the affidavit.
The two told deputies they were helping move a friend to Indianapolis, but they did not know the friend’s name, the report said. Deputies went back to the home and found the front door wide open, the affidavit said.
Deputies searched the truck and found hand tools, a mounted deer head, a truck tool box containing several air and hand tools, other tools and some marijuana, which police destroyed, the affidavit said.
The two were released with the contents of the truck because deputies were unaware at the time that a burglary had been committed, the affidavit said.
Investigators later found the names the two had given deputies did not match photos, according to BMV records.
Duffy was arrested in August of 2021 while Hamilton was arrested in September of 2021. Court records indicate she’s been out on bail since October of 2021 waiting for her case to be settled. A restitution hearing on Duffy’s case is slated for the end of the month.
