Kidnapper sentenced to 76 years
A Wayne County man received a 76-year prison sentence Monday for the April 2014 kidnapping of his estranged wife.
Todd A Stigleman, 49, quietly accepted his sentence from Judge Charles Todd Jr., glancing toward his mother, stepfather and appellate attorney in the Wayne County Superior Court I courtroom. Judge Todd issued aggravated sentences on four Class A felony kidnapping charges and two Class C felony stalking charges, finding that aggravating circumstances significantly outweighed mitigating circumstances.
"From my standpoint, I believe I've sentenced you fairly," Todd told Stigleman, who indicated he would appeal.
A jury had convicted Stigleman on April 8 of 14 felony charges; however, eight criminal confinement convictions were vacated Monday because Stigleman had been found guilty of the more serious kidnapping counts. After the jury's verdict on the fifth day of trial, Stigleman also had admitted being a habitual offender.
Todd sentenced Stigleman to 40 years on each of the four kidnapping counts and enhanced the first count by the mandatory 30 years for the habitual offender designation. Those four sentences run concurrently. Two six-year sentences for the stalking charges will be served concurrently to each other but consecutively to the kidnapping sentence, creating the 76-year aggregate.
Sentence range for a Class A felony conviction is 20 to 50 years of incarceration, with a 30-year advisory sentence, while a Class C felony conviction carries a sentence range of two to eight years of incarceration, with a four-year advisory sentence.
Todd credited Stigleman with 537 days served and 537 good-time days. Stigleman is eligible to earn day-for-day good-time credit because he committed his offenses before a revision of Indiana's criminal code took effect July 1, 2014. If he continues to earn good-time credit, he would serve 38 years of incarceration.
The jury ruled Stigleman guilty of abducting his estranged wife on April 24, 2014, when he followed her on Interstate 70 and onto an exit ramp to Indiana 1. He blocked her vehicle with his car and forced his way into her vehicle. Stigleman then drove the couple to a location in the western part of Wayne County where they were found by Hagerstown police.
Defense attorney Zaki Ali recommended a 71-year aggregate sentence that included home detention and probation elements, saying Stigleman's wife offered inconsistent trial testimony.
"What we have here is a domestic case that went haywire," Ali said, although he admitted that "Todd made several poor decisions."
Chief Deputy Prosecutor April Drake asked Todd to make at least two 40-year kidnapping sentences consecutive, and she denounced any probation.
"Mr. Stigleman has earned this sentence," Drake said, adding that "his conduct has earned him a fully executed sentence."
She disagreed with Ali's characterization of the trial evidence, saying Stigleman showed disdain for authority with an attitude of "everybody be damned, I'm going to do what I want."
Todd levied aggravated sentences because of Stigleman's criminal history of four previous felonies, his commission of a crime of violence in the presence of his then-14-year-old son, his violation of pre-trial court orders and his communication by letter trying to influence a witness's testimony.
Stigleman faces two more pending cases in Superior I. If he is convicted, any sentence or sentences he receives are mandatorily consecutive to this 76-year sentence because he is alleged to have committed the offenses while free on bond.
In one case, he is charged with illegal possession of a firearm by a felon (a Level 4 felony), dealing a narcotic drug (a Level 5 felony), dangerous control of a firearm (a Level 5 felony), neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury (a Level 5 felony), obstruction of justice (a Level 6 felony), dealing marijuana (a Class A misdemeanor) and with being a habitual offender. Trial in that case is scheduled for 9 a.m. Sept. 6.
Those charges were filed against Stigleman in December 2014, and he was arrested later that month in Oxford, Ohio, where police said he stabbed himself in the abdomen to end a standoff with officers after they were tipped off by Cambridge City police that he might be in the area.
He had also been charged Nov. 7, 2014, with invasion of privacy (a Class A misdemeanor). That case is scheduled for trial at 9 a.m. Sept. 19.