Seth Bell, 32, of Lima, has an Aug. 15 deadline to accept an offer from prosecutors that would cap his prison time at five years in a home burglary incident.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — A Lima man has until Aug. 15 to ponder a plea offer extended by prosecutors that would cap his maximum prison time at five years.
Seth Bell appeared in Allen County Common Pleas Court for a pre-trial hearing Monday and was greeted by the plea proposal.
Bell, 32, was indicted in July on a second-degree felony count of burglary, two counts of violating a protection order and one count of grand theft of a firearm, each a felony of the third degree, and one count of carrying a concealed weapon, a fourth-degree felony.
The offer presented by Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Cecily Stewart calls for Bell to plead guilty to the burglary charge, one protection order violation and the grand theft of a firearm. In exchange, the state agreed to dismiss the remaining counts and to agree to a five-year prison term.
If Bell does not accept the offer a jury trial will begin on Aug. 21.
According to court documents, Lima police on May 22 of this year responded to a residence in the 900 block of Hazel Avenue in reference to a burglary. The resident of the home said her house was broken into by Bell, her former boyfriend, and that a protection order was in place against him at the time.
The woman said she discovered her firearm was missing from a closet. Home security video revealed that Bell had entered the home, using a key to unlock a deadbolt lock, and then stood in her bedroom doorway until she awoke and ordered him to leave.
The woman told police that Bell pretended to walk out of the home but instead slowly moved throughout the house and disconnected video cameras, at one point crawling on the bedroom floor with a hood over his head, court records show.
Bell reportedly then entered the closet and removed a Ruger .380 LCP firearm before leaving the residence.
