A former Ohio University resident assistant, accused of stealing items from two dorm rooms last Spring Semester while students were sleeping, pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary in a pretrial hearing Monday.
David Felt, 20, changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on both burglary charges, which are felonies of the third degree, as part of a plea agreement. He will voluntarily enter a $500 diversion program run by the Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn’s office.
OU Police Department officers arrested Felt on Feb. 28 in Washington Hall, where he was an RA, after a resident there reported that personal items, such as a jacket, had been taken from her room while she was sleeping and that a similar incident had occurred in another room across the hall.
Although Felt pleaded guilty to taking the belongings, his lawyer, Todd Grace, said the incident would not have occurred had Felt been in a clear state of mind.
“(Felt) doesn’t remember what happened that night,” Grace said during the hearing, adding that Felt has a history of sleepwalking. “He’s taking this as a way to think of lifestyle changes. … He is a promising young man.”
Even though alcohol was involved at the time of the incident, according to an OUPD police report, Felt was not charged with underage drinking.
During the pretrial hearing, Michael A. Prisley, the assistant prosecuting attorney on the case, noted that Felt has undergone drug and alcohol assessment since his arrest.
Prisley also said, as part of the plea agreement, Felt will be required to complete 150 hours of community service per Blackburn’s request.
Judge L. Alan Goldsberry read off information on the plea agreement, which Felt signed, verifying that he is “guilty of (burglary), even though I’m not finding you guilty.”
Felt is expected to complete the diversion program and make full payments to the court. He is also waiving the right to a jury trial, and therefore gives up his right to select a jury, testify or use his right to remain silent.
The court will hold his guilty plea in abeyance and take no further action until Felt completes the diversion program.
RAs, because of their jobs in the residence halls, inherently could have access to numerous students’ personal belongings, but an RA stealing from students is incredibly rare, university officials said.
Peter Trentacoste, OU’s executive director of Residential Housing, said in an email that “all staff within the department of Residential Housing are trained and provided expectations for behavior and appropriate role-modeling.”
The university could not specify whether or not the allegations of this incident are the reason that Felt is no longer an RA, Katie Quaranta, an OU spokeswoman, said in a previous Post article, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, otherwise known as FERPA.
kf398711@ohiou.edu
@KellyPFisher
