COLUMBUS, Ind. — A local man who entered into a plea bargain and said he committed an armed robbery and caused a fatal car crash was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday.
Kevin W. Shuffitt, 21, had pleaded guilty to to Level 5 felonies in Bartholomew Superior Court 1 earlier this year stemming from two separate cases as part of a plea bargain.
The charge of criminal recklessness came from a Nov. 8, 2021 incident at the intersection of Seventh Street and Central Avenue. The defendant’s truck pulled out into the intersection and struck a vehicle, court documents state. A passenger in the second vehicle, Jeremy O. Stillabower, 44, of Columbus, suffered multiple injuries and later died in an Indianapolis hospital.
Investigators say the defendant’s truck struck another vehicle twice on Seventh Street near Cottage Avenue moments before it crashed into the Stillabower vehicle.
In the second case, Shuffitt was one of three people arrested in connection with an armed robbery that occurred on July 12, 2021. The victim was held at gunpoint in the 1000 block of California St. and struck in the face several times with a pellet gun before the perpetrators stole his bicycle.
Originally facing one count of robbery resulting in bodily injury as a Level 3 felony, Shuffitt was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of armed robbery as a Level 5 felony.
Judge James Worton gave Shuffitt a six-year sentence for the criminal recklessness conviction and four years in the robbery case.
Charges dismissed in the agreement include two counts of criminal recklessness as a Level 6 felony, as well as two charges from an Oct. 3, 2020 arrest: unlawful possession of a syringe as a Level 6 felony and a misdemeanor charge of possession of paraphernalia.
