Hill sentenced to 10 years in prison

Posted 5/11/21

Aaron Hill was sentenced to 10 years in state prison for his part in robbery...

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Hill sentenced to 10 years in prison

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OKEECHOBEE — Aaron Hill was sentenced to state prison for 10 years for his part in a home invasion which took place in May 2019. Arrested with him were David Gardener and Michael Wayne Cheney. When the three broke in, a man, woman and two children were home, and the male victim’s wallet containing $1,500 in cash was taken. Hill entered a no contest plea to the charge of  robbery while wearing a mask, and the home invasion charge was dropped.

In March, David Gardener was sentenced to four years in state prison after pleading no contest to the charge of robbery while wearing a mask. A second charge, home invasion, was dropped.

Cheney is awaiting trial.

Hill was first brought into the public eye in 2014 at the age of 16. He was the victim of a beating at a house party that made national headlines in August 2014 after a video of the incident was posted on social media.

In later court testimony, Hill said he had lied to his mother about where he was going that night and that he had taken money with him to the party and given it to an adult to buy alcohol for him. Later, he apparently pushed or drunkenly fell against a girl at the party who demanded that he leave. When he did not leave, she called Andrew Wheeler. The video shows Wheeler beating Hill, who did not fight back. Wheeler, who was 18 at the time of the incident, was convicted of aggravated child abuse and sentenced to 30 years in prison. That sentence was overturned by the Fourth District Court of Appeals and he was released in 2016.

Evadean Dailey, who hosted the party was charged with aggravated child abuse and child abuse, but those charges were dropped when she agreed to plead no contest to charges of  child neglect, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and allowing an open house party.   Dailey was sentenced to 18 months in state prison.

Hill had a number of brushes with the law as a juvenile but was first charged as an adult in April 2015 when, at the age of 17, he pulled a knife on a man and threatened to cut him during a confrontation at a local fast-food restaurant. In that case he was charged with a felony, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, as well as the misdemeanors of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of alcohol by a person under the age of 21. He was placed on probation for a period of five years, but violated that probation on Oct. 4, 2015, when he was arrested on a felony charge of grand theft.

While in jail awaiting his trial, Hill was charged with assault of a police officer and battery of a facility employee by throwing or expelling fluids. Hill was reportedly in the Okeechobee County Jail in the D-pod dorm and threw something through the door of his cell at one of the deputies. The substance, later identified as human feces, did not make contact with the deputy at that time, but he threw a cup full of feces at the deputy as he was walking downstairs, and that time it did make contact with him. The deputy later said he originally thought Hill was throwing food.

Hill entered a no contest plea to the battery charge and the assault charge was dropped. He was sentenced to three years in state prison. The time is to be served consecutively rather than concurrently.

Eric Kopp contributed to this story.

court, arrest, OCSO, police

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