Jacob Smith

The grandmother of a Middlesex Township man who was sentenced to at least a dozen years in prison for committing a bevy of addiction-fueled holdups and break-ins said her prayers were answered when her grandson was arrested.

Joyce Birkhimer of Gibsonia said it's been her hope that 28-year-old Jacob Smith would “get caught” — putting him in prison, but ending his fight with drug addiction — ever since her neighbor boy overdosed on drugs and died.

Birkhimer spoke Tuesday when Butler County Judge William Shaffer sentenced her grandson to the terms of a plea arrangement with the district attorney: 12 to 24 years in prison on four counts of robbery, eight counts of burglary and one count of criminal trespassing.

The crimes included robberies at the Dollar General on Route 68 in Fairview Township — twice — and at a 7-Eleven store in northern Allegheny County and at the 7-Eleven store in Penn Township.

During the holdups at least one robber wore a ski mask and brandished a gun, court records say.

Although other people were linked to the different crimes, one of Smith's co-defendant's previously identified Smith as the planner and the gunman in the robberies. However, the same co-defendant said the weapon used wasn't an actual firearm, but rather an air pistol.

Smith also was among those accused of burglarizing homes and businesses in Butler and Armstrong counties between August 2009 and May 2011. The burglaries targeted pizza shops, convenience stores, restaurants, a house and a bank. The total restitution in that case is more than $16,000.

The total restitution for the robberies combined is $1,528.

Smith's defense attorney, Michael Jewart of Butler, declined to comment.

Assistant District Attorney Christine Studeny said the lengthy sentence recommendation was based on totality of the crimes involved, including the 18-month duration of the crime spree, the number of victims and the number of different jurisdictions affected. Additionally, a weapon was used in the crimes.

Studeny noted that Smith, already had a criminal record at the time of his arrest. Court records indicate Smith still was on probation from three 2009 burglaries.

Although none of Smith's victim's attended the sentencing, the defendant issued an apology to everyone affected by his crimes, which he described as “selfish and destructive.”

Although Smith said he had a drug problem at the time of the crimes, “I know right from wrong, and I knew these crimes were wrong.”

Since his arrest, Smith told the judge that he has committed his life to God.

Among the people who were charged as accomplices to some of Smith's crimes were his 31-year-old sister Melissa Smith of Middlesex Township. The charges against her still are pending.