The trial of Jesse Cole Lombardi ended Thursday morning when he pleaded guilty in Washington County Circuit Court to a 2011 home invasion robbery in Smithsburg.
The plea came on the same day that another man charged in the robbery, Victor McCormick, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for armed robbery, first-degree assault and third-degree burglary.
Lombardi’s jury trial began on Wednesday before Judge Donald E. Beachley, but he pleaded guilty Thursday morning to the same counts as McCormick. The prosecution is recommending that Lombardi’s sentence be capped at 20 years incarceration.
Beachley ordered a presentence investigation be conducted prior to Lombardi’s sentencing.
Lombardi, 19, of 60 S. Main St., Smithsburg, and McCormick, 20, of 12906 Bradbury Ave., were charged with a robbery at the West Henrietta Street home of Annette Cooper and her son on the night of Aug. 12, 2011.
Smithsburg police had responded to a report of a robbery in progress involving two masked men, one with a shotgun, the other with a knife, according to the statement of probable cause. The mother and son told police the men demanded money and drugs, threatening to kill them and to burn the son’s eyes out with cigarettes, the charging documents said.
