NEBRASKA CITY-  The court recognized homelessness and disabling mental illness in what judge Julie Smith called a hybrid sentence Monday of 42-year-old Robert Rhoads for burglary, assault on an officer, possession and disturbing the peace in three separate cases from December through April.

Judge Smith agreed with Otoe County Attorney Jennifer Panko Rahe regarding a 105-day  jail sentence, but also ordered three years probation so Rhoads can continue progress he has made at Mission Field, a Christian rehabilitation center that specializes in dual-diagnosis with addiction and mental illness.

Despite 20 criminal cases filed since 2018, Rhoads has never been sentenced to probation before.

His attorney Mark Moore of Lincoln said Rhoads does not see probation as leniency, but recognizes the opportunity to show he is committed to growth.

For Judge Smith that growth means managing his medications, abstaining from marijuana without a prescription and remaining in transitional living at Mission Field as long as he can.

She ordered money management classes and victim empathy classes. She authorized electronic monitoring to help probation keep track if Rhoads returns to homelessness.

She said extended periods of homelessness are a factor in what Public Defender Michael Ziskey called a cycle of active schizophrenia, arrest and release over the last decade.

 

One of Rhoads' recent arrests followed an incident when he was pounding on the locked door after hours at Morton House, now called Morton Memory  Care.

 

When access was denied, he triggered a fire alarm and used the confusion to get inside the rest of the building. Prosecutors say he went to the kitchen and started eating stolen food. He is convicted of assaulting a police officer who arrived at the scene.

Panko-Rahe said Rhoads has a long record of disturbing the peace and trespassing, including entering people’s homes under frightening circumstances. She said the recent addition of methamphetamine has intensified Rhoads' criminal behavior. She asked for incarceration saying Rhoads has consistently failed to manage his mental health.

Ziskey said Rhoads is doing well at Mission Field and Moore said he is sincere in his remorse and is willing to take responsibility.

Rhoads told the judge he has achievable goals ahead of him in regard to positive community involvement and finding his own place to live.