Jury Trial Set For Theft Suspect

Zachery J. Youngs, 29, appeared in Jefferson County District Court on Thursday, September 2, in the custody of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Vicky Johnson was the presiding judge. Attorney Benjamin Murray was assigned to represent Youngs. Ben Murray did not appear in court but his partner, Joe Murray, did. Joe Murray requested that a jury trial be set. The judge set the dates for January 27 and 28, 2021. A pretrial hearing is set for December 2 of this year, which is also the deadline for any possible plea agreement. Youngs is charged with theft, with a value between $1,500 and $5,000, which makes the offense a class 4 felony, punishable by up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He is also charged with criminal mischief, a class 3 misdemeanor. Youngs has pleaded Not Guilty. According to the Affidavit in Support of Arrest Warrant, a car belonging to the alleged victim was broken into on February 28, 2020. The victim works for Fiester Food and indicated that while he was on break, he discovered his passenger window had been broken and a blue money bag containing $4,300 was missing. Management provided deputies with surveillance video. According to the deputy who filled out the Warrantless Arrest Affidavit, “After viewing the video, I could see a black, Dodge Stratus R/T. The vehicle did not have any license plates.” The suspected vehicle was later located. The deputy wrote, I could see through the passenger window, a large crescent wrench located on the floor.” The deputy searched the vehicle and reported, “The wrench, wire cutters, and a glass cutter still in the wrapper was taken as evidence.” At 2:30 p.m. that same day, the deputy was informed that Buddy Powell, 39, of Fairbury, was in the lobby of the Jefferson County Law Enforcement Center. He was taken to an interview and Mirandized, per the Affidavit. He was then placed into custody and booked. Powell advised investigators that Youngs was allegedly a participant in the burglary. According to the Affidavit, “Buddy advised me that after the incident he and Zachery left the area and split the money taken from the vehicle between the two of them.” Powell pleaded No Contest to a reduced charge of criminal mischief and was sentenced to 456 days in jail. He was released on April 1, 2020. This is not the first time Youngs has been in trouble with the law. In 2018, Youngs was convicted of making terroristic threats, domestic assault and criminal mischief, and had been sentenced to 36 months of probation beginning March 15, 2018. In 2019, the defendant admitted to multiple violations of probation. The defendant was accused of failing to report to the Probation Office as instructed, not reporting a change of address and failing to report for drug and alcohol testing. As a result, he was re-sentenced by Judge Johnson. On two counts of making terroristic threats, he was sentenced to one year incarceration for each, sentences to run consecutively. For a count of domestic assault, he was sentenced to 180 days and for a count of criminal mischief, 30 days. These two sentences were to run concurrently. He was given credit for 123 days served and was also given 18 months post-release supervision. He was again accused of violating probation and in April of this year, a motion to revoke his probation was filed. Judge Johnson revoked Young's post-release supervision, indicating he was, “No longer a fit candidate.” The judge sentenced Youngs to 295 days in the Jefferson County Jail.

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