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Burglary And Battery Nets Nine-Year Sentence

By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: October 4, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - A Spring Hill man who bragged he "threw down two old people" during a burglary last year received a nine-year prison sentence on Friday.

The burglary occurred five months after Benjamin Jablon, 22, was acquitted of an attempted murder charge in March 2007.

Additionally, Jablon was ordered to pay $500 in restitution for jewelry that was stolen from the house in the 2500 block of Landover Boulevard.
Jablon was scheduled for trial at the beginning of November, but was added on to Friday's docket after negotiations with the State Attorney's Office.

"His lawyer is aware I'm not amenable to last minute plea deals," said Prosecutor Don Barbee, supervisor of the Hernando office.

Investigators say Jablon plotted the burglary with two accomplices, both 15, who were charged with acting as lookouts while Jablon broke into the home. The residents, both over the age of 65, had just left but returned unexpectedly and interrupted the suspect.

Detectives say Jablon bolted out of the house with handfuls of jewelry and shoved the husband and wife aside on his way out.

Deputies tracked the suspects down to a house on Keysville Drive that same day; Jablon reportedly led authorities to a culvert where he had hidden the goods.

He was charged with burglary, grand theft and two counts battery on a person 65 or older.

The attempted murder charge stems from the night a Pizza Hut delivery man was severely beaten with a baseball bat in 2006. Investigators linked Jablon to the attack, but he was later acquitted during trial in 2007.
Jablon reportedly made reference to that during this last arrest, telling deputies as he was handcuffed and led to the county jail:

"You ... are just (mad) cuz (sic) I beat that Pizza Hut rap."

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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