An Ashley man charged with burglary and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor changed his plea to “guilty” Tuesday morning in Delaware County Common Pleas Court.
Jeremy Cackler-Fox, 18, of Ashley appeared in Delaware County Common Pleas Court Tuesday morning for a change-of-plea hearing, where he entered a “guilty” plea to a charge of burglary, a second-degree felony; and a charge of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a fourth-degree felony. As part of a plea agreement, another burglary charge and another charge of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor were dismissed.
Cackler-Fox told Judge David Gormley that on the night of April 21 he had been texting a 13-year-old Delaware girl. He said the girl told him to come over the next day and he arrived at the girl’s home on South Union Street in the early morning hours of April 22.
Cackler-Fox told Gormley that he saw the girl standing at her second-story window and she told him to take a ladder from her neighbor to reach her window. He said he entered the neighbor’s enclosed patio, took the ladder and climbed into the girl’s room.
Cackler-Fox and the girl spent some time talking and joking around, Cackler-Fox said, before he engaged in sexual conduct with the girl.
Police were called to the home by the girl’s parents about 3:30 a.m. and Cackler-Fox was arrested and charged with burglary.
Gormley told Cackler-Fox that he could face between two and eight years in prison for the burglary charge and between six to 18 months for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. He added that Cackler-Fox will have to register with the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office as a Tier-2 sex offender.
Gormley scheduled a sentencing hearing for Aug. 5 at 4 p.m.
Assistant county prosecuting attorney Douglas Dumolt said Cackler-Fox’s phone contained images of juvenile girls in various states of undress. Dumolt said the phone would be destroyed as part of the plea agreement and prosecutors would not pursue child pornography charges.
Cackler-Fox has an extensive criminal history and was on probation when the crime occurred, Dumolt said at Cackler-Fox’s earlier arraignment.
Cackler-Fox is currently being held in the Delaware County Jail.