Man sentenced for vandalism to Hamilton store that included leg of Jack Daniel statue

A Hamilton man was sentenced to a jail term Monday in Butler County Common Pleas Court for an act of vandalism that destroyed a statue of Jack Daniel and hundreds of bottles of alcohol at a Main Street business.

Jacob Shane Wright, 26, of the 2000 block of Princeton Road, was indicted in October on three counts of vandalism, obstructing official business, resisting arrest and attempted petty theft. He pleaded guilty to two counts of vandalism, one a fifth-degree felony and the other a fourth-degree felony, in November. The remaining charges were dismissed.

Judge Michael Oster sentenced Wright to 170 days in jail, with credit for 121 served, placed him on five years community control and ordered that he participate in the county’s Substance Abuse Mental Health court, stay away from the defendants and the store and make $2,000 in restitution.

Wright walked into Noonan’s Party Store at 4:35 p.m. Sept. 13 and attempted to steal a bottle of liquor, according to Hamilton police. He was told to put the down bottle and leave, but he went outside and broke off the leg of a statue of Jack Daniel and returned screaming and threatening employees, said owner Tom Noonan

Wright kicked the store door and ran. He was spotted a short time later in a CVS parking lot and was eventually apprehended by officers, but not before he put a dent in a police cruiser after jumping on it, police said. An officer also received a hand and leg injury, according to the police report.

Damage estimated to the store’s inventory was about $10,000, with total damage estimated at $15,300, including to the door, statue leg and police cruiser, according to the police report.

Noonan said he expects to repair Daniel’s leg after it’s released by the Hamilton police department. The leg is evidence because it allegedly was used to threaten his employees, he said.

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