An Erie man convicted at trial of confronting a man outside of his home, forcing him inside, assaulting him and robbing him of a change jar in January 2025 spoke March 11 of his efforts to “avoid all nonsense” while serving a state prison term in an earlier case.
But Richard L. Barnett Jr. said he failed to plan for the future once out of prison and made a bad decision when he became involved with two others in the robbery.
There were several of those decisions, Erie County Judge David Ridge pointed out before sentencing Barnett, including coming up with the robbery plan, waiting for the victim to return, and forcing the victim into his house.
“I could go on and on,” Ridge said.
Ridge on March 11 sentenced Barnett, 34, to eight to 16 years in prison on his convictions on felony counts of robbery and burglary and on a misdemeanor count of simple assault and added 10 years of probation for being found guilty of conspiracy in the case. The sentences were in the standard range.
Barnett was convicted at trial in January of those charges in the Jan. 17, 2025 robbery of a man in the 600 block of Ohio Street. Erie police accused the suspects of confronting the victim after he reportedly returned home from celebrating his birthday. The victim told investigators the suspects, who were wearing masks, forced him inside of his home, assaulted him and stole a change jar containing about $200.
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Barnett’s co-defendant in the case, Jamee T. Husband, 30, was convicted at trial in January of felony counts of robbery and burglary and was sentenced March 5 to serve 7½ to 15 years in prison on those charges. He was additionally sentenced to 10 years of probation after being found guilty of a felony count of conspiracy to commit burglary, according to court records.
A third person charged in the robbery, Issac S. Moffett, 21, pleaded guilty Dec. 18 to a felony count of burglary and was sentenced Jan. 5 to three to six years in prison, according to court records.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie man charged in change jar robbery sentenced to state prison term