Amish Man & Young Son Assaulted, Tasered & Robbed In Brutal Home Invasion (Ohio)

In a crime described as “appalling”, an Amish man and his son were assaulted by three assailants last Thursday, and the home robbed.

The perpetrators threatened to kill the victims, and even attempted to abduct the eight-year-old boy.

This happened in Middlefield Township in the Geauga County, Ohio Amish settlement. A blurb on this incident was released earlier today.

The Geauga County Sheriff’s Department just held a press conference releasing much more detail on the incident. I just got done watching, and I share what I learned with you below.

“Bad guys” and “Slugs” Targeting the Amish

Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand opens the conference and immediately you can tell he appears angry – or maybe indignant is a better word – with what happened, as he starts to discuss the crimes.

He calls the perpetrators “bad guys” and “slugs who don’t have jobs” and says that the idea that they “can come into our county and expect to victimize the Amish community is horrendous.”

And I don’t blame him – especially once you learn what happened.

He also talks about the false idea that Amish don’t report crimes, and definitively said that’s not the case in his area, describing how they work with local bishops and the Amish community on a daily basis.

“We won’t put up with it,” says the Sheriff. And “these guys will get what they deserve.”

Next, they played the 911 call from the Amish father, who is unnamed, but is the owner of two businesses.

The men came in a “nice” black pickup truck and demanded money, having first pulled in and left.

He describes bits and pieces of what happened, though it is difficult to follow in some parts as there is background noise and parts of it redacted in accordance with Marsy’s Law.

When asked for an estimate of how much cash they got, the Amishman eventually guesses that it could have been $5000. He says that they found some of his wife’s money which was kept in a closet.

A Heinous Home Invasion

After the playing of the call, Lieutenant James Jonovich from the Sheriff’s office takes over and fills in a lot more detail on what happened.

Shortly after the call went through, sheriff’s deputies arrived and “scoured” the area for the vehicle, but were unable to find it.

After discussing with the victims, they learned that they “used a ruse to gain access to the victims’ property”, posing as potential customers.

The perpetrators next put the Amishman’s son (described as an eight year old) into a chokehold to force the father and son into the house.

They next “ransacked” the house, separating the son from the man, and held him hostage as they searched. The deputy states that the “house was completely ransacked…everything was gone through, thrown all about”.

Next the suspects became angry and threatened to kill him if he didn’t produce more money. Next, they hit him in the face with a wooden crate, giving him a “substantial laceration” below the ear and swelling. He was also shocked with the Taser gun.

When he couldn’t produce more money, they said they were going to kill him and take his son. “He was forced to look away as the suspects exited the residence, holding his son hostage.”

The Amishman was able to then run to a phone and call 911 once the suspects had left the home. On the call, you can hear the boy re-enter the house (thank God) to reunite with his father.

The eight-year-old reported that “he was being dragged towards the suspects’ vehicle, but he was able to break free and run away.”

The boy “believed he was going to be abducted and killed.” He fled through a “dark field” and was able to observe the suspects’ truck leaving the home, which allowed him to return to his home and his father.

Additionally, the boy reported that “he was shocked in the stomach with the Taser device multiple times” during the incident. He also witnessed his father being thrown to the ground and beaten.

Catching the “Primary Aggressor”

After hearing all that, I can only think: pure evil. But, there is some good news.

Continuing the press conference, the lieutenant described how detectives “worked around the clock” on the investigation due to its serious nature.

Using surveillance cameras and license plate readers, they were able to ID the vehicle, which was carrying a stolen Ohio license plate. The truck itself had been stolen and was suspected to have been used in multiple other crimes.

They were also able to identify one of the suspects – who they describe as the “main suspect” and “primary aggressor”. His name is Bradford James Hosler (33) of Canton, Ohio. He was described by the victim as the “leader of the group”.

You can see that Mr. Hosler belongs to the “genius” category of criminals, with easily-identifiable facial tattoos:

Hosler was arrested on October 11 in Canton. He had been out on parole for felony domestic violence and breaking-and-entering.

Because of that, he was fitted with an electronic GPS monitoring unit. Location data from the unit “places Hosler at the victims’ residence at the time of the crime.”

Next, Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz takes over and notes that the Sheriff’s office – detectives and lieutenant – were not joking. They “literally did not sleep and worked around the clock”. They had ID’ed the ringleader within 24 hours and put together the plan to arrest him.

Hosler was charged with aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, and aggravated kidnapping. Due to his extensive record and being on parole when the crimes were committed, a $750,000 bond was requested and granted.

The prosecutor expressed his expectation that he would be held in custody for the duration of the proceedings. A preliminary hearing is set for Monday, October 20.

Sheriff Hildebrand: “These guys were lucky”

Finally, Sheriff Hildebrand returns for some final statements and to take questions.

He says that “Obviously Geauga County is a rural community, and we have a large Amish population, and as far as I’m concerned, these guys were lucky, because the majority of our Amish population are all hunters, and they all have guns, and they’re very lucky that they weren’t used on them.”

“It’s appalling that they would come from Stark County all the way up here, and victimized our residents, our Amish population, and expect to get away with it,” the Sheriff continued.

“Because obviously they’re not going to,” he states, citing their use of technology, dedication of their deputies and detectives, and cooperation with other counties as “enabl[ing] us to solve these crimes.”

“And I feel very confident that within the next couple days the other two individuals are also going to be joining him in our jail.”

Reporters asked questions including on the amount of money taken, the extent of the injuries the victims suffered, and whether this was a targeted or random crime.

Great work by the Sheriff’s Office and detectives from Geauga County and the help from neighboring Stark County in pursuing, identifying and apprehending this suspect.

They pledged to continue to work until all of the suspects were captured, and the lieutenant stated that they can all expect to face “serious level felonies”.

You can view the roughly 30-minute press conference in full here (jump to about the 13-minute mark for the start):

Wife and Mother of Victims Speaks

In the conference, information like the name of the business and full name of the victims was withheld from the press conference, and redacted from the 911 call recording (though I noticed some details were partially revealed).

But – a bit confusingly – Cleveland.com is now running a story where they interview the victim’s wife, and all details are revealed in it (I realize that she would be considered a victim too here).

So perhaps they changed their minds about that, and decided to reveal more information for the story. Her name is Mary Ann Byler and she owns Cozy Corner Books; her husband Nate owns a cabinetmaking business.

Here’s the account at Cleveland.com by Mary Byler of the invasion and attack, revealing additional details:

Byler said her husband, Nate, was home with their four children on Thursday when men pulled into the driveway and approached Nathan, the couple’s 8-year-old son, who was outside playing.

“He told them his dad does cabinets and ran inside to get him,” Byler said. “The man came up on the porch pretending to order cabinets then suddenly stunned him with a stun gun and grabbed my son.”

Byler said the suspects forced her husband and son into the home and demanded money. She said one of the suspects held Nathan around the neck and threatened to kidnap him.

These parents were made to believe that they would be killed and/or their son kidnapped:

The suspects and the boy’s father tried to negotiate money for the child’s safety, Byler said.

“They said ‘no, we’re actually taking him with us, and we’re going to kill you before we leave,’ Byler said. ”And they actually made a threat to Nathan that they would kill me is he doesn’t tell them where the money is.”

The attackers were brutal and used multiple objects to beat the father:

The attackers repeatedly used a stun gun on her husband and son, beating the boy’s dad with their fists, a wooden crate and even a houseplant, Byler said.

Before driving away, the suspects tried to steal the family’s generator, Byler said, but it rolled off the back of the truck. Byler’s husband called police in the driveway.

She said her son and husband have been recovering, but the 8-year-old is having nightmares.

Just awful, and I hope this little boy and the rest of his family will fully recover soon. Besides the physical injuries, there is the emotional and psychological trauma as well. Hope to see the other two accomplices joining Hosler soon.

Get the Amish in your inbox

Join 15,000 email subscribers. No spam. 100% free

 

 

 

Subscribe