An Allegan man was sentenced to jail and probation for a pair of breakins and was given a consecutive sentence for assault with a dangerous weapon.
Alexander Eddie Ruffing, 29, was sentenced Monday, April 16, in Allegan County Circuit Court.
Ruffing pleaded guilty to one count of breaking and entering, one count of attempted breaking and entering, both of which he committed while awaiting court action on a charge he eventually pleaded to of assault with a dangerous weapon.
Judge Roberts A. Kengis sentenced Ruffing to four months in jail and two years probation including 90 days on tether for the assault, which happened in July 2017 in Ganges Township.
Kengis said, “This was a very violent incident and was made worse by the fact that children were in the home at the time.”
The judge said he was glad to see Ruffing was getting counseling relating to assault.
Court documents said Ruffing had used a gun to assault or threaten a victim he’d had a dating relationship with. Prosecutors agreed to drop charges of aggravated domestic violence, assault with intent to do great bodily harm and driving with license suspended.
Kengis sentenced Ruffing to another four months in jail for the attempted breaking and entering, which happened at an auto repair shop on Lincoln Road.
“It’s consecutive because the defendant was on bond for the felonious assault when the attempted B and E happened,” he said.
For the breaking and entering charge, Kengis gave him three years probation and seven days in jail, with credit for seven days served.
The victim in the case said he’d intended to retire and let Ruffing take over his auto repair shop and even stuck by him after his arrest.
He said he’d been unable to reopen part of his business and hadn’t gotten his insurance to pay him back for most of his losses. Kengis ruled a restitution hearing would be needed in the case to sort out how much restitution would be needed.
Ruffing’s lawyer, Paul Klein, said his client was very remorseful for his actions in all three incidents.
“(In the breaking and entering) He basically exploited a relationship, he feels terrible about that and he understands that’s unacceptable,” Klein said.
Ruffing apologized and said he’d gotten involved with some bad people.
“I’m sorry what I did,” he said.
As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop two counts of breaking and entering against Ruffing and to recommend a pair of concurrent jail sentences and not prison to Judge Roberts Kengis.
Kengis allowed the defendant to report to jail a few days later so he could complete some car repairs he’d been hired to do and give back the vehicles before he did his jail term.
Contact Dan Pepper at dpepper@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.
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