Man sent to Beje Clark on burglary, injury charges

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A Charles City man who pleaded guilty to attacking two people and striking one of them with a bat has been sentenced to probation and ordered to go to Beje Clark Residential Center or a similar facility.

Jason Ward Cagley, age 35, of Charles City, was charged with burglary in the second degree, a Class C felony; willful injury resulting in serious injury, a Class C felony; and assault while participating in a felony, a Class D felony.

As part of Cagley’s agreement to plead guilty, the assault while participating in a felony charge was dropped, and the willful injury resulting in serious injury charge was reduced to willful injury resulting in bodily injury, a change from a Class C to a Class D felony.

According to police reports, Cagney entered a vehicle occupied by two people in the 600 block of South Jackson on Oct. 28, 2018, and assaulted a woman while she was still in the car by grabbing and pulling her hair and striking her in the head. No injuries were caused by this assault, the report said.

The police report says Cagley also assaulted another person at that location with a baseball bat, striking the person in the ribs and pushing that person down and causing serious injuries to the person’s leg and knee.

At a sentencing hearing Monday in Floyd County District Court, Judge Gregg Rosenbladt accepted the plea agreement recommendation of the Floyd County Attorney’s Office and sentenced Cagley to:

• Up to 10 years in prison on the Class C felony and up to 5 years in prison on the Class D felony, both suspended.
• Three to five years probation on each charge.
• 180 days in Beje Clark Residential Center in Mason City or other residential facility, or until maximum benefits have been achieved.
• A $1,000 fine on the Class C felony and a $750 fine on the Class D felony, both with 35 percent surcharges, all suspended.
• Restitution of $282.57 for damage to the victim’s car.

He also ordered that a no-contact order between Cagley and two people be continued.

During the sentencing, Cagley’s attorney, Nellie O’Mara of Mason City, asked that Cagley be released from jail until a place opens up at Beje Clark, noting that the waiting list there is longer than a month and that he would receive treatment for substance abuse at Prairie Ridge in Mason City in the meantime.

Addressing the court, Cagley said he takes “responsibility for my actions and poor choices that have brought me here today,” adding that he wants to address his substance abuse problem.

Also, Cagley said, “I have a newborn baby that needs me clean and sober and out of jail, and therefore I leave myself at the mercy of the court.”

Rosenbladt said he looked at Cagley’s previous criminal convictions and times Cagley spent time in prison or had probation before.

“You’re somebody that’s on the fence, Mr. Cagley, actually between a prison sentence and residential center sentence. Your record is very concerning, especially previous assault convictions,” Rosenbladt said.

The judge said he would go along with the recommended sentence of the county attorney and a pre-sentencing investigation, but that he would not let Cagley out of jail before a place at Beje Clark opened up.

“It’s going to be very important that you start successfully on probation,” Rosenbladt said. “The Beje Clark program is not necessarily what I would call an easy program. There’s a lot of rules and requirements that are involved, so it’s important that you be available to go and be ready to go, that you be clean and sober when you go in, and that therefore you’re able to start the program on good footing.

“If you start it and have violations or if you don’t show up to start it, you’re going to be right back here in court looking at revocation, and so I think that is the best thing to do for your rehabilitation, and also the protection of the community,” he said.