As part of an attempt to convince the judge to accept his guilty plea, day-time burglar Timothy G. White agreed to tell authorities where he sold items he stole from multiple Cass County homes.
In Cass Circuit Court Thursday, Judge Leo Burns accepted terms of a plea deal and sentenced White to 18 years in the Indiana Department of Correction and 12 years on probation.
Before leaving the Cass County Jail to face pending burglary charges in other counties, White said he would reveal to investigators what happened to the property he sold to support his crack cocaine habit.
According to court records, White told police he stole mostly money and jewelry that he and co-defendant Shelly S. Hale of Peru would pawn. Other items came up missing, too.
At one home, White reportedly took a box that contained the baby teeth of the resident’s son. The teeth got thrown out of a moving vehicle window as White and Hale reportedly discarded things they could not sell.
Chief deputy prosecutor Lisa Swaim said the victims not only lost money and their sense of security, they suffered the loss of personal property with sentimental value, as well as family heirlooms.
Police arrested White and Hale in December 2008 at a Logansport motel. A Cass County deputy spotted a car that matched the description of a vehicle believed to be used in a string of day-time burglaries in Cass, Howard and Miami counties.
White later led a detective to homes he and Hale reportedly broke into during a crime spree that began in September 2008. The break-ins included the house of Cass Superior Court II Judge Rick Maughmer.
White admitted he stole jewelry from Maughmer’s home that he later sold to a local jeweler.
White declined to speak in open court about his actions, but his attorney Brant Parry relayed a message that White has realized the pain and hardship he caused the families he victimized. He also apologized for his actions, Parry said.
White signed a plea deal that dismissed all but three class B felonies he faced. For each count, he received a 10-year sentence.
White was ordered to pay an estimated $27,000 in restitution, including more than $7,000 to Maughmer.
Information obtained in police interviews with White were used to bring charges against Hale, whose felony cases are still pending.
• Kevin Lilly is news editor of the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at 574-732-5117 or kevin.lilly@pharostribune.com.
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