Macoupin State’s Attorney Jordan Garrison announced today a former Girard man has been sentenced to seven and a half years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for a burglary in Girard. Troy A. Jones, 35, was born on Oct. 7, 1988, pleaded guilty to residential burglary in front of Judge April G. Troemper who handed down the sentence. Jones is being held at the Macoupin County Jail pending transport to the Department of Corrections.

In Nov. of 2022, a 9-1-1 call by a concerned citizen reported a suspicious individual looking into windows of residences in Girard. The City of Girard did not have an officer on duty, so Macoupin County Detective Asa Bentley responded. By the time Detective Bentley responded the individual, later identified as Jones, had broken into a residence and was being held down by citizens of Girard. Jones was arrested and initially held on a $100,000 bond which he posted in Dec. of 2022. Jones was previously sentenced to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for a burglary in Sangamon County in 2013.

In her announcement of sentence Judge Troemper commented on the forcible felony committed by Jones stating, “The Court cannot turn a blind eye to Mr. Jones’s prior instances of lawlessness…. the community deserves to feel save from this kind of behavior.”

“Mr. Jones robbed his victims of the feeling of safety that a residence provides,” said Garrison. “These actions will not be tolerated in Macoupin County. I thank the Macoupin County Sheriff’s Office, specifically Det. Asa Bentley, for his efforts on behalf of the victims.”