BY DAN HILDEBRAN
A Bradford County jury acquitted a man of breaking into an unoccupied structure and stealing a firearm from the home. However, the panel found the defendant guilty of giving a false name to a law enforcement officer, and he was cited for contempt of court during the trial.
The jury found Mark Randall Hersey, 63, not guilty of burglary and grand theft of a firearm.
According to an arrest report, on May 16, 2023, the owners of a Sampson Lake-area residence reported that while they were away on a camping trip, someone broke into their home. They added that they believed Hersey committed the crimes. A woman taking care of the owners’ horse told deputies she saw a slender man with a beard walking with a limp on the victims’ property and asked him what he was doing there. According to the witness, the man answered that he was looking for family members, and the witness responded by telling him they were not home.
On May 23, a person matching the defendant’s description was seen in Starke, and deputies stopped him. According to the report, Hersey told officers his name was “Mike Glover.”
Detective Michael Garmon wrote in the report that he knew the pedestrian’s real name was Mark Hersey and searched the walker. He found a small green flashlight and a set of keys. Garmon added that one of the victims claimed the items were stolen from her home, in addition to the black jeans Hersey was wearing.
Hersey’s attorney, Michael T. Ruppert, argued that there were no eyewitnesses to the break-in, that the person taking care of the victim’s horse could not identify Hersey as the person she saw on the property, and that the witness did not see anyone breaking into the home.
Ruppert added that no latent fingerprints were found at the crime scene and that although investigators found hair samples in a shower and fecal matter in a toilet allegedly left by the burglar, lab tests failed to link the evidence to the defendant.
The defense attorney also said the items found while searching Hersey were insufficient to prove he stole them from the Sampson Lake area home.
“The search yielded a key chain, a small flashlight, and a black pair of jeans,” wrote Ruppert in a motion to suppress. “These items were identified on scene by (the victim). These items were never traced to the victims’ home independently and are common items found in abundance within the community. Also, these items were never previously reported as items missing from their home.”
Judge James M. Colaw sentenced Hersey to one year in jail for the misdemeanor. The judge also cited Hersey for contempt of court for illegally and untruthfully talking to a witness during the trial, possibly in view of the jury. Arraignment for the contempt charge is scheduled for May 8.
