Man pleads guilty in BB gun shooting case
A Forward Township man charged with soliciting a teenage boy to fire a BB gun into a Jefferson Township house pleaded guilty Monday to one charge in Butler County Court.
Austin J. Ayers, 19, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor conspiracy count of recklessly endangering another person before Judge William Shaffer.
The plea agreement calls for a sentence of a year of county probation, payment of court costs, restitution and fines or community service. He is scheduled for sentencing May 24.
Ayers was initially charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to commit the crimes of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, as well as misdemeanor illegal possession of a stun gun and reckless endangerment.
One of the felony charges and the illegal possession of a stun gun charge were later withdrawn at the district court level and the misdemeanor charge to which he pleaded was later added.
Ayers was charged by state police after an incident in the 200 block of Neuport Road, Jefferson Township, on Feb. 2.
Police said a call shortly after midnight reported a projectile hitting the window of the home of Heidi Sloan and Justin Castilyn. The home also was occupied by two young children. No one was injured.
Investigators found a hole in the bedroom window caused by “a metal BB,” according to court documents.
Later that day, police said, Ayers posted a Facebook comment saying “he had filled the victims' windows full of BBs,” according to the criminal complaint.
Ayers was later arrested at his home on Prospect Road. He was found wearing a holster for a Taser, which police said he is prohibited by law from possessing because of his prior criminal record. That charge was later withdrawn.
Police said they also found a 17-year-old boy, who they did not identify. The boy, documents said, admitted shooting at the house with a BB gun. He turned over the suspected gun used in the incident.
The teen said Ayers gave him the gun and told him “just do it,” according to a police affidavit, meaning to shoot the house.
Ayers was later released from Butler County Prison after posting $50,000 bail.
