Who got sentenced for crimes in Franklin County this week?

Here’s a look at some of the people who were sentenced for crimes this week in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

Man charged in two-week burglary spree gets nearly 20 years behind bars

A Columbus man accused of committing 25 robberies over a two-week period will spend 18 years behind bars.

Tay Lon Watkins, 23, of the East Side, agreed to a plea deal Monday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court that resulted in the sentence. As part of the deal, 54 of the 63 charges Watkins faced were dismissed. Watkins pleaded guilty to the remaining nine charges.

According to court records, Watkins, who was 18 at the time, committed a series of armed robberies beginning on Nov. 17, 2018, and continuing until Dec. 1 of that year. Nine of the robberies were of juvenile victims, and on at least two occasions, Watkins stole a firearm from the person he was robbing.

One of the stolen firearms was later found and will be returned to its owner when it is no longer needed as potential evidence, according to court records.

Charges dismissed against woman accused of orchestrating killing

Charges were dropped earlier this month against a woman accused of orchestrating the murder of a man she knew after a key witness in the case died.

Sydney Freshour, 21, had been dating Elias Malone, 23, in January 2021, when Malone fatally shot Tristan Foor, 22, of

Pataskala, at a Northwest Side apartment.

According to court records, Freshour was accused of inviting Foor to Malone’s apartment with Malone then robbing Foor when he got there.

When Foor got to the apartment, Malone pulled a gun and shot Foor once, causing him to fall backwards down a staircase. Malone then followed Foor down the stairs and shot him several more times.

In April 2022, Malone pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 18 years.

According to court records, Freshour had been slated to go to trial on Monday on charges of murder, robbery and kidnapping. However, prosecutors filed a notice of dismissal earlier this month, saying they could not proceed with the case because a crucial witness had died, making proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt unlikely.

Man admits to shooting wife during 2018 fight, gets prison time

A Far East Side man agreed to spend more than decade in prison after admitting to fatally shooting his wife during a fight in 2018.

Keith Mccauley, 45, faced a murder charge in connection to the February 2018 shooting death of his wife, Lucille Mccauley, 39.

Keith Mccauley allegedly shot his wife during an argument Feb. 15, 2018, at their Chinaberry Drive home. When officers arrived, Mccauley reportedly sat in the front yard with a dog for almost three hours before SWAT officers subdued him with a stun gun and arrested him.

The case languished in the judicial system for more than five years before finally being resolved. Mccauley initially sought to argue he was not mentally competent at the time of the shooting but later tried to have the case dismissed because body camera footage from the first officers who responded to the 911 call had been lost, according to court records.

On Dec. 14, Mccauley pleaded guilty to a single count of involuntary manslaughter.

Keith Mccauley was sentenced to 12 years in prison. As part of his plea agreement, Mccauley agreed not to file for early release. He will get credit toward his sentence for the more than 2,000 days he spent in jail while his case was pending.

Man given year in prison for helping to cover up stabbing

A man accused of helping to hide evidence after a fatal stabbing at his South Side home was sentenced to a year in prison.

Lance Harrison, 24, pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence in connection to the Nov. 5, 2022, stabbing death of Noral Koehn Jr.

Koehn, 46, and a United States Air Force veteran, was found stabbed at a home on Ruma Road after an argument with Harrison and William Barker, 22, of Canton. Barker admitted to stabbing Koehn and was sentenced to 3-4 years in prison.

After the stabbing, Barker and Harrison admitted to hiding evidence and cleaning up both the scene and the knife that was used, as well as moving Koehn’s body.

Ex-girlfriend, co-defendant in 2021 fatal beating take plea deals

A woman who testified against her ex-boyfriend in a fatal 2021 beating and another man who helped in the assault were each sentenced to 6-9 years in prison.

Kasey Harper, 37, of Clinton Township, and Deven Robinson, 28, of the Northeast Side, were both found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in connection with the death of Roland Johnson Jr., 56, of North Linden.

Robinson and Harper, as part of their plea deals, will each spend 6-9 years in prison.

Robinson and Harper both testified against Quincy Anderson, 50, of the Northeast Side, who was found guilty in January of murder and aggravated robbery after jurors deliberated for about 35 minutes.

Anderson represented himself at trial. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 15.

Prosecutors said during Anderson’s trial that on Jan. 25, 2021, Johnson met Harper at a Cleveland Avenue apartment to pay her for sex. The pair got high, after which Harper said she would not sleep with Johnson, telling him to leave the apartment building.

Johnson followed Harper to a communal laundry room and grabbed her, Harper testified, prompting an altercation between Anderson and Robinson to begin the assault.

The testimony in the case showed Robinson and Anderson punched and kicked Johnson repeatedly. Harper, who was dating Anderson at the time, taunted Johnson while he was being assaulted.

Johnson was found at the bottom of a flight of steps by a security officer, whom Johnson told he fell down the stairs. Johnson died at a hospital the next day. bbruner@dispatch.com @bethany_bruner