Childers To Serve Eight-Year Sentence Locally After Robbing, Battering Woman
By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews
Jerrod S. Childers
WARSAW — A Warsaw man will serve an eight-year sentence through community corrections and probation after robbing and battering a woman.
Jerrod S. Childers, 45, 1514 Dot St., Warsaw, was charged with armed robbery, a level 3 felony; and domestic battery, a class A misdemeanor. Two additional charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
Childers was sentenced in Kosciusko Superior Court One on Thursday, Feb. 8.
For armed robbery, Kosciusko Superior Court One Judge Karin McGrath sentenced Childers to eight years in the Indiana Department of Correction, with four years executed and four years suspended on probation. He also received a one-year DOC sentence for domestic battery, with both of Childers’ charges to be served at the same time.
McGrath approved Childers serving the executed portion of his sentence through Kosciusko County Community Corrections.
A no-contact order between Childers and the victim remains in effect. There is also an active no trespass order preventing Childers from being on the property where the incident occurred.
Childers has been on pretrial electronic monitoring for 349 days while out on bond.
At sentencing, Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Sobek described the offense as “horrifying.”
“He waited in ambush for the victim, who indicated how terrified she was,” said Sobek.
Sobek requested a 10-year sentence, with six years executed, to “show the community what happens to offenders like this.”
Defense Attorney Austin Rovenstine said he had no doubt Childers was terrifying the day of the incident, but said he was never frightened of Childers in the time he represented him. He described the crime as “wildly out of character” for Childers, with multiple letters of support being submitted on Childers’ behalf to the court.
He said prison time was not the best option for Childers’ punishment and requested community corrections for any executed time he was ordered to serve.
Following Rovenstine’s statement, Childers expressed remorse for his actions and apologized to all parties involved in the case.
McGrath said Childers’ prior criminal history was incredibly minimal until the incident and noted a letter from the victim, who requested McGrath recognize who Childers is as a person versus the incident itself.
“Your chosen behavior was highly unacceptable and dangerous and frightening,” said McGrath. “You do have a lot of people who support you and I am trusting everything I read on you from others, including the victim.”
On Feb. 18, 2023, a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to a domestic dispute at a Warsaw residence. A woman involved in the incident said she had just returned home when Childers tried to take her phone from her by forcefully grabbing her purse.
This caused the purse to become tangled around the woman’s neck, leaving painful, visible abrasions. Childers had a firearm in his possession at the time of the altercation.
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