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Cleveland
August 29, 2014
A judge sentenced a Cleveland teenager to 20 years in prison Tuesday for his role in a brutal home invasion in which he and his cousin pistol-whipped an elderly couple and forced the woman into the trunk of her car and drove her around the city while trying to steal from her credit cards.
“The whole situation is absolutely reprehensible,” said Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Maureen Clancy. before she ordered Jermaine Eggleton, 18, to prison.
“What if someone did that to your grandmother or mother?” the judge said, as Eggleton stared back at her.
Eggleton pleaded guilty last month to aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, felonious assault, grand theft, theft and misuse of credit cards. Cuyahoga County prosecutors and defense attorney Fernando Mack had agreed to a recommended sentence of 13 to 20 years.
Mack urged leniency, while Norm Schroth, an assistant county prosecutor, pushed for 20 years in prison. Schroth called the crime “absolutely atrocious.”
Eggleton’s sentencing came about eight months after Common Pleas Judge Michael Donnelly sentenced Eggleton’s cousin, Ronald Ellis, 22, to 25 years in prison. Ellis had pleaded guilty in December to similar charges in the attack, as well as attempted murder.
Eggleton’s case took longer to complete, as he was 17 at the time of the offense, and initially charged in Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court. He was later charged as an adult, and his case was transferred to Clancy’s courtroom.
Schroth, the prosecutor, said Ellis and Eggleton targeted Richard and Margaret Kovachik, who are in their 80s and live near the city’s First District police headquarters on West 130th Street.
At about 11 p.m. June 17, 2013, the two broke into the couple’s home, Schroth said. They surprised Richard Kovachik, who was watching “Hogan’s Heroes” on TV and pistol-whipped him, Schroth said. His wife, who was getting ready to go to bed, also was attacked. Ellis and Eggleton used duct tape to bind them, authorities said.
The pair then forced Margaret Kovachik into the trunk of the couple’s 2008 Chevrolet Malibu and drove her around the city, seeking to use her credit cards at ATM machines. Schroth said they drove about 16 miles, a ride that took about a half hour.
At home, Richard Kovachik struggled to free himself. When he finally did, he ran to a neighbor’s to call for help. Eventually, the intruders believed that Margaret was giving them the wrong PIN number for the credit cards, and beat her, Schroth said. In the end, only one of the couple’s credit cards was used, at a beverage store for $5.50.
Later, Cleveland police rescued Margaret from the car, in a parking lot on the city’s East Side. Officers found her in the fetal position, fearing that she was about to be beaten by the two men.
“It was by the grace of God that (police) found her,” Schroth said.
Mack told Clancy that “there is no way to water this down.” He did cite Eggleton’s age and said Ellis took advantage of him by pulling him into the attack. He said Ellis was clearly the aggressor.
Mack also cited Eggleton’s mental illness, which includes schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Eggleton apologized to the Kovachik family. He called the attack the biggest mistake of his life. He said if he had taken his mental-health medication on the day of the attack, that might have stopped him from joining in.
“I should have been a better person,” he told Clancy.
But the judge lashed out at Eggleton, saying he could not use his failure to take his medication as a way out.
“I find (what you did) to be cold, calculating, heartless and gut-wrenching,” Clancy said.
At his sentencing in December, Ellis also apologized to the Kovachiks and said, “I just wasn’t myself.”
Schroth said the Kovachiks continue to struggle from the attack, even though it happened more than a year ago. He said Margaret Kovachik remains in counseling.
The couple did not attend the hearing. Two family members declined to comment as they left the Justice Center.
