WELD COUNTY, Colo — A Weld County district court judge last week sentenced Brandon Steele, 20, to 27 years in prison for his role in a 2018 home invasion robbery and shooting at a Greeley home.
A news release from the 19th Judicial District Attorney's Office says on Oct. 21, 2018, dispatch received a call at about 4 a.m. from a Greeley resident saying a man was outside near their home screaming for help, before getting in a vehicle and driving away.
When officers pulled the vehicle over, a female, who was covered in blood, was driving the car, the release says. Her adult son was in the passenger seat and was also covered in blood. Her four-year-old grandchild was in the back seat of the vehicle.
The adult male passenger had been shot in his left shoulder, according to the release. The female driver told officers that she was sleeping at her Greeley home, where her son and grandchild also lived, when she woke up to her dog growling. That’s when she saw two men in her bedroom.
The release says she told detectives that one of the men held a gun in her face, and that she was punched and hit several times. She said she was also put in a headlock and dragged downstairs to the basement. While she was being held downstairs, she said she heard scuffling upstairs and then heard a gunshot.
The defendants got away with three cellphones, a handgun, additional electronics and other household items totaling more than $2,000, the release says.
The DA's office said Steele pleaded guilty in July of last year and was convicted of second degree kidnapping and first degree burglary related to the incident.
The judge imposed a 17-year prison sentence for the kidnapping charge and a 10-year sentence for the burglary charge, which was ordered to run consecutive to the 17-year sentence, the DA's office said.
Steele is the fourth person to be sentenced for this crime, the DA's office said. One co-defendant’s case is pending.
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