A man who pleaded guilty to illegally possessing firearms was sent to prison last week as part of a sentence handed down in the Champaign County Common Pleas Court.
Jacob M. Heyder, 26, received a two-year prison sentence along with an additional 730 days in prison during a sentencing hearing Friday. Heyder pleaded guilty to one count of having weapons while under disability, a third degree felony, with a one-year firearm specification in March.
A court statement filed in the Champaign County Municipal Court states on Dec. 8, 2018, Urbana Police spoke to an Urbana resident in reference to Heyder texting him and making threats. The resident previously made a complaint about harassing text messages from Heyder earlier in the day.
The court statement notes Heyder was on parole at the time. The grand jury indictment states he was previously convicted of aggravated robbery in 2014 in Franklin County.
When the resident arrived at the police station, he showed texts from Heyder and photos of Heyder holding two long guns, a small revolver and a long gun. Other photos showed Heyder with swords, knives and other weapons.
Police noted the photo of Heyder with the long guns was taken on Nov. 9, 2018.
The resident also told police Heyder was responsible for shooting out a pizza delivery driver’s vehicle window from his balcony on Dec. 4, 2018.
The resident told police he did not tell them about this incident because Heyder threatened him and his family if he told police.
Police and members of the Adult Parole Authority for Champaign County decided to visit Heyder’s residence. Due to the information gathered from the resident and possible threats involving guns, law enforcement formulated a plan so all officers and occupants in the house would be safe.
When they arrived at the residence, Heyder told law enforcement to go away. After being informed that the Adult Parole Authority representative was there to conduct a home visit and that he would be detained, Heyder was uncooperative.
Along with pills, police found marijuana and drug paraphernalia within the residence.
Police were informed that the guns Heyder posed with did not belong to him and had been removed from the residence after he tried multiple times to gain access to them.
While the two-year prison sentence was for the having weapons while under disability charge, the additional 730 days was imposed by the court as a post-release control sanction because Heyder was on post-release control for the Franklin County case at the time of the current offense.
Upon his release, Heyder is subject to post-release control for up to three-years.
