Man sentenced to life in robbery gone bad

A Lima man was sentenced to life in prison Monday for the Thanksgiving Day killing of a Bellefontaine man during an elaborate ruse to rob him.

Marquevous Watkins, 22, apologized to the family of Jeffrey Brentlinger. “I’m not a stone-cold killer,” he said.

“I’ve scarred your family and I’ve scarred my own family.”

Brentlinger, 45, of Zanesfield, had used an online service to set up what he thought was a date with two women for sex.

The women turned out to be teenagers who, along with three others, all from Lima, broke into Brentlinger’s house along Township Road 127 to rob him.

Watkins ended up shooting and killing Brentlinger.

Logan County Prosecutor Eric Stewart said none of the assailants had violent criminal pasts, nor were they part of a gang.

“We’ve always viewed this case as a robbery gone bad,” Stewart said.

Watkins will be eligible to apply for parole after 18 years under the sentence issued by Logan County Common Pleas Judge Mark O’Connor.

Brentlinger’s daughter, Kelsie, told O’Connor she found her father that day in a pool of blood surrounded by muddy footprints.

Addressing Watkins, she said: “Your mother, father and future daughter will always be affected by your actions of evil. I feel sorry for your family, that you made them go through all this.”

As Watkins’ mother left the courtroom, Stewart said the woman had told the Brentlingers: “That is not the way I raised my son.”

The other assailants are awaiting trial.