<p>A Franklin man prosecutors are calling a “serial thief” was sentenced to 12 years in prison following a string of crime sprees spanning six months.</p>
<p>Johnson County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Roesener sentenced Steven Lee Wagers for felony charges, including thefts from vehicles, drug offenses, fleeing police and an escape charge for fleeing home detention.</p>
<p>All the charges stem from a string of car break-ins and trespassing incidents in late 2018 and early 2019. Wagers also fled from a treatment facility where he was serving home detention as a condition of his bond on prior cases, according to a news release from the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office.</p>
<p>Wagers began a theft and drug crime spree across the county in October 2018, months after he was released from the Johnson County jail for similar crimes.</p>
<p>On Oct. 25, Wagers was accused of driving around the gate of a home that had no trespassing signs. His vehicle was filled with stolen items, according to the news release. He was charged with three Level 6 felonies, including theft and criminal trespass.</p>
<p>In November 2018, while he was out on bond, Wagers went through vehicles in Franklin and fled from police. His bond was revoked, the news release said. He was charged with two counts of felony theft, two counts of unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle and a count of resisting law enforcement.</p>
<p>In February, Wagers was sentenced to home detention at Progress House for drug treatment. He violated the terms of that arrangement and left the facility without the judge’s permission in early March, the news release said. He was charged with escape and given a habitual offender enhancement, according to the news release.</p>
<p>He was arrested again on March 8 after he stole a vehicle and fled from police. He also had a syringe on him. It led to convictions for auto theft, possession of a syringe and resisting law enforcement.</p>
<p>Three days later on March 11, Wagers was arrested when police attempted to stop him after he walked through the yards of several houses prompting residents to call police. Police found methamphetamine on him, resulting in a possession of methamphetamine charge, according to the news release.</p>
<p>Wager’s bond was revoked and he remained incarcerated until his sentencing Monday.</p>
<p>The pleas on each of the five charges carry fixed two-year sentences to be served at the Indiana Department of Correction. A habitual offender enhancement added two years to the escape charge, the news release said.</p>
<p>All cases will run consecutive for a total of 12 years. Wagers must also participate in drug treatment and other programs while incarcerated, according to the news release.</p>
<p>His sentence could be modified after six years, the judge ruled. Wagers was given 390 days of jail credit.</p>
<p>“Steven Wagers is a perfect example of how drug crime and other crime go hand in hand. These neighborhoods will only be safe when people like Wagers are removed from having the ability to re-offend. Based on his history and the circumstances, Wagers was graciously given an undeserved opportunity to work to rehabilitate himself by the Court, and chose to use that opportunity to engage in (the) same criminal activity which put him in jail in the first place,” Prosecutor Joe Villanueva said.</p>
<p>Wagers has been arrested at least 29 times since 2002, according to records from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.</p>
<p>He was sentenced to 4.5 years in jail in July 2017 after pleading guilty to eight crimes, including resisting law enforcement, theft and possession of a controlled substance, all related to a separate slew of vehicle break-ins. Wagers was also connected to thefts from about 20 vehicles in the Country Gate, Tracy Ridge and Peachtree neighborhoods in New Whiteland in 2016.</p>
<p>Wagers served 50% of that sentence, according to court and jail records. He was released from the county jail in May 2018.</p>
<p>At the time of his arrest for the 2016 car break-ins, Wagers had just been released from the Indiana Department of Correction where he served time for trafficking with an inmate and parole violation.</p>
