A couple indicted recently by a federal grand jury for conspiring with others to distribute heroin have been ordered by a judge in state court to repay alleged victims of a series of home burglaries in Joplin more than $25,000 in restitution.
Brian and Haley Ferguson, both 26, were granted suspended sentences by Circuit Judge Gayle Crane for two burglary convictions each at a hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court.
The Fergusons pleaded guilty to the charges Nov. 28 in a plea deal with the Jasper County prosecutor’s office.
The judge assessed Brian Ferguson seven years on each of his convictions for second-degree burglary but suspended execution of the sentence and placed him on probation for five years. Crane granted Haley Ferguson suspended impositions of sentence on her two convictions for second-degree burglary.
A third burglary count and three felony theft counts that both of the Fergusons were facing were dismissed in accordance with their plea bargains.
The Fergusons were accused of breaking into three homes in their own neighborhood in the 3000 and 3100 blocks of South Pennsylvania Avenue in late August and early September. Thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, guns and other items were taken.
The judge ordered that they begin repaying the victims of those burglaries $25,510.97 at the rate of $500 per month.
The couple were among five people named in a federal grand jury indictment handed up Jan. 24 in U.S. District Court in Springfield. Lavar D. Beard, 33, also known as “Dough,” is the chief defendant named in the alleged conspiracy to distribute heroin. He is charged with eight drug and weapon violations. Ashley Henson faces two federal counts in the case, and Jason Hirshey and the Fergusons face single counts.
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Couple ordered to pay $25,000 in home burglaries
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