Jayden L. Polston
HANCOCK COUNTY — An Indianapolis teenager facing 11 different crimes including four Level 3 armed robbery charges from incidents in October 2021 has been sentenced to several years in prison following a plea agreement in Hancock County Superior Court 1.
Jayden L. Polston, 16, 5000 block of Meckes Lane, Indianapolis, admitted guilt to three of the Level 3 felony charges he was facing with all the penalties to run concurrent. Polston was officially sentenced in Hancock County Superior Court 1 on Sept. 14.
He was given a nine-year sentence by Judge Donald E. Currie with four years to be executed and five years suspended to probation. Polston is to spend the first year of probation on home detention. He was given credit for time served, nearly 400 days, and the other eight charges Polston was facing were dismissed.
Prosecutor Brent Eaton noted officials made the determination on the plea agreement after getting a lengthy 76-page, pre-sentence investigation report on Polston, one the court leaned heavily on in making the decision on the term.
Polston is one of the teenagers involved in a shooting of another teen at a house on North Noble Street last October. Officials noted several other serious felony crimes were committed stemming from an armed robbery involving many of the same teenagers the night before.
Polston; Jesse Ray Ford, 16, 800 block of North Noble Street, Greenfield; and Mason Scott Ford, 16, 800 block of North Noble Street, Greenfield, were all charged in the robbery case.
The charges came after a lengthy investigation by detectives from the Greenfield Police Department into an Oct. 7, 2021 shooting in which a 15-year-old boy was wounded. The shooting took place around 6:40 a.m. at a home in the 800 block of North Noble Street. Charges were also filed in that case against another person who was present during the shooting, Ethan Emilio Melendez, 17, Greenfield.
The shooting took place at the house where Jesse Ford and Mason Ford live. Police said the Fords and Polston also were present at the time of the shooting.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the night before, the three teenagers robbed at gunpoint a couple of other teens who were walking near the parking lot of the Greenfield Friends Church in the 300 block of West Park Avenue. The incident took place between 10 and 11 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, the night before the shooting.
One of the teens who was robbed was carrying a backpack with camping supplies, including a first aid kit and a hand-held chainsaw. The teen also had $300 to $500 in cash, the affidavit said.
Polston was identified as the person with the gun, “a black handgun with a really big magazine,” one of the victims said in the affidavit. The other two robbers were identified as Jesse Ford and Mason Ford. The two juveniles said after they were robbed, Polston told them to start “stepping or he’d light the block up,” the affidavit said.
One of the juveniles who was robbed told officials he was friends with Polston on social media and he was afraid to tell anyone what had happened to them right away for fear of retaliation, the affidavit said. The victim also told police Polston told him to not tell anyone what happened and that he knew where the victim lived.
During a separate interview, police located a black Glock 19 pistol with an extended magazine, the affidavit said. The gun belonged to Polston, officials said, and had been altered to fire automatically.
The teenagers were all charged as adults. Jesse Ford and Mason Ford were sentenced this past summer via plea agreements where all charges against them were dismissed except a Level 6 felony charge of assisting a criminal. Melendez is set for a change of plea hearing in Hancock County Circuit Court at the end of the month. He is facing four crimes including a Level 4 felony charge of operating a loaded machine gun.
