A man charged with multiple counts of robbery was sentenced to three years in prison in a 2016 Johnson County robbery.
Thomas W. Kaufman, 26, of Avon, also could face more years in prison in cases in other central Indiana counties.
Kaufman was arrested last year after police said he jumped over the counter of a Center Grove area gas station to steal cash. At the time, police said he was the suspect in at least seven other robberies.
Last month, Kaufman pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and was sentenced to three years in prison, with credit for 112 days already served, according to court records.
Kaufman still is facing charges in Marion and Morgan counties, Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper said. Prosecutors did ask for those cases to be considered in his local case, Cooper said.
Investigators from Johnson, Marion and Morgan counties all worked together on the cases.
After the robbery at the gas station at Smith Valley Road and State Road 37, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office investigator was contacted by Mooresville police, who said a gas station there had also just been robbed, and they suspected it could be by the same person. The two investigators exchanged surveillance photos and found the same man committed both robberies.
The Mooresville detective was working with police in Indianapolis who believed the suspect was involved in at least seven other robberies. That suspect was identified as Kaufman, police said.
When investigators spoke with Kaufman, he told them he had taken $20 from the register for his heroin addiction and asked them to tell the Johnson County clerk he was sorry if he hurt her, the report said.
If convicted, the other counties also can suggest that Kaufman serve the sentences at the same time as or back-to-back with the sentence from Johnson County, Cooper said.
