With only a week to spare before the scheduled jury trial was set to begin, 20-year-old Andrew Jewell accepted a plea deal that will see him sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison for his actions last August at Sandusky’s Hope Thrift Store.
Jewell was originally charged with attempted unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping/child enticement and assault/battery after trying to drag an 8-year-old girl into the bathroom of the local Hope Thrift Store in late August 2023.
However, two of those charges were dropped when Jewell pleaded guilty last Wednesday, May 1, with felony unlawful imprisonment and misdemeanor assault and battery being dropped by prosecutors. Instead, Jewell pleaded guilty to the felony count of kidnapping–child enticement, with his plea deal preventing him from receiving the usual sentence of life in prison for the crime, and instead receiving a maximum of 15 years.
The specifics of those 15 years and what his minimum sentence will be is yet to be determined, with Jewell scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday, June 12, at 1:30 p.m.
