An accomplice to an attempted burglary that resulted in the deaths of two men will spend over a decade in prison for his role in the crime.
Austin Allen, 24, of Bellefontaine, was sentenced Thursday, Jan. 26, in Logan County Common Pleas Court to an indefinite prison term of 14 to 19.5 years for his role in driving three Champaign County juveniles to the scene of an aggravated robbery that ended in a double homicide.
Allen previously pleaded guilty to complicity to aggravated robbery, a felony of the first degree, and an accompanying three-year firearm specification.
His sentencing before Judge Kevin P. Braig is a day removed from the sentencing of the final Champaign County suspect in the case, Ethan Grim, 21, of Urbana. Grim was sentenced Wednesday, Jan. 25, to an aggregate prison term of 50-years to life in prison.
This week’s hearings bring to a close a case that originated Nov. 27, 2019, in which the three juveniles, Elijah Barrett, Josia Bush, and Ethan Grim met at a local apartment where Barrett was staying and planned to rob a house at 601 W. Columbus Ave., Bellefontaine.
Allen drove Barrett to Urbana to pick up Grim and Bush and brought them all back to the apartment. Barrett testified during the trial of Bush they knew Anthony Scartz, a resident of the house, sold marijuana.
Allen testified he drove them from the apartment complex to the scene of the crime. He testified Grim cautioned him against parking and waiting in a local church parking lot because it might be equipped with security cameras, and that the three fashioned masks to cover their faces during the crime from a bag of clothes in his car.
Barrett testified the three juveniles agreed to use force to rob the house. Shortly after entering the residence, gunshots were fired. Caleb Chamberlin, 22, was pronounced dead at the scene. Scartz, 24, died a few days later at Grant Medical Center in Columbus.
Allen testified at trial that after the crime he dropped Barrett off at a hospital in Urbana and abandoned Grim and Bush after he overheard Grim discussing on the phone if he should shoot him to ensure his silence.
The morning after the crimes, Allen turned himself in to the Bellefontaine Police Department, and he’s been lodged in the Logan County Jail ever since.
In exchange for Allen’s cooperation, Logan County Prosecutor Eric Stewart agreed to dismiss charges against Allen of complicity to murder; complicity to aggravated burglary; complicity to kidnapping; complicity to felonious assault; and firearm specifications accompanying each charge.
At the sentencing hearing, Allen apologized to the family and friends of the victims. His attorney, Garron Fischmann of Kenton, read a letter from his mother and his father addressed the court.
Barrett, Grim, and Bush have each been convicted of the crimes arising from the events and sentenced to indefinite life sentences.
At the time of the murders Bush was 16; Barrett was 15; and Grim was 17. Each was bound over from juvenile court to stand trial as adults in the summer of 2021.
Because they committed the crimes prior to turning 18, all three will be eligible for parole after serving 25 years under Senate Bill 256, which became law in Ohio in April of 2021, the court noted.
Barrett and Bush have filed appeals in the Third District Court of Appeals. Grim is also expected to appeal.