Man accused of killing Beavercreek dad in front of kids in local jail

Alleged shooter Sterling Roberts to be arraigned Tuesday.
Sterling Roberts, who is accused of killing a man in front of his children.

Sterling Roberts, who is accused of killing a man in front of his children.

The three brothers associated with the shooting death of a Beavercreek man in front of his sons were all in local jails, though one will be getting out.

Sterling Roberts, the suspected shooter of Robert “Bobby” Caldwell in a Riverside parking lot in August 2017, was moved Jan. 22 from a South Carolina jail to a federal prison in Oklahoma , then to Butler County Jail on Jan. 25.

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Roberts, 35, who was sentenced to 10 years for unlawful transport of weapons in South Carolina days after Caldwell’s death, will be arraigned Tuesday in Dayton’s U.S. District Court.

His brothers — Christopher Roberts and Chance Deakin — were booked into local jails after being accused of bond violations associated with the federal conspiracy case. Christopher Roberts is in Butler County Jail while Deakin has spent about a week in Montgomery County Jail.

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Christopher Roberts was put in jail in December while Deakin’s vehicle was stopped going the wrong way on a one-way street. Dayton police wrote in a police reports they found Deakin with 10 grams of marijuana.

Deakin was expected to be arraigned on a misdemeanor case Monday morning in Dayton Municipal Court and later appeared in front of Judge Thomas Rose on a bond revocation hearing.

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Deakin admitted to using marijuana at least twice besides the traffic arrest. Rose admonished Deakin but allowed him to get out of jail provided he seeks and gets treatment to break his addiction and verifies his employment.

“You won’t hear another peep out of me,” Deakin said after Rose said, “You either need to comply or I need to do what I need to do.”

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Sterling Roberts and his girlfriend, Tawnney Caldwell (Bobby’s ex-wife) face potential death-penalty counts while Tawnney’s mother and step-father, Chandra and James Harmon, also are facing charges.

The six defendants face charges in what prosecutors called a conspiracy to kill Caldwell, who was shot in a Riverside parking lot in front of three of his sons.

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One of Caldwell’s sons, Jacob, went missing for a year after the killing. Jacob was found Aug. 28, 2018, in the basement of a Miami Twp. residence living with four adults.

There have been several delays in the cases for the defendants in the conspiracy case with only one — James Harmon — having a current date set for a trial.

Roberts and Tawnney Caldwell, Robert Caldwell’s ex-wife, face death penalty-eligible charges including cyber stalking, using an illegally possessed firearm to stalk and murder Robert Caldwell, aiding and abetting the illegal gun possession and obstructing justice.

MORE ON JACOB CALDWELL: Missing teen found a year after witnessing his father’s death had run away before, records show

Sterling Roberts’ federal public defender in South Carolina said Roberts doesn’t face any other charges in South Carolina in connection with the shooting three days after Caldwell’s death.

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In that case, Roberts pulled an AK -47 style rifle out and fired in the direction of a deputy, who reversed his vehicle and took cover behind a Circle K, according to a complaint. The deputy radioed for assistance, and when confronted by another deputy, Roberts put down the Romarm model Cugir, 7.62 caliber rifle. Officers recovered six fired casings and 48 unused bullets.

Roberts had been on probation for a weapons under disability case in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.

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