- November 17, 2024
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A thief convicted Friday of robbing and battering an 88-year-old man in his home — after nine prior felony convictions — may go to jail for the rest of his life.
A Flagler County jury convicted 34-year-old Bunnell resident Edmon Nathaniel Welch of one charge of home invasion robbery, one charge of battery on a person 65 or older and one charge of burglary with an assault or battery.
Judge David Walsh will preside over Welch’s Feb. 24 sentencing hearing, and prosecutors will seek a life sentence.
“The defendant’s prior record reflects why we have a dedicated Career Criminal Unit,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza said in a news release following the conviction. “We will be seeking a life sentence under the Prison Releasee Reoffender statute.”
The burglary happened early the morning of June 29, 2013.
Ray Mercer, 88, was at his home on North Anderson Street at about 1:37 a.m. when two men came to his door. One forced his way inside while one stood at the door. Mercer saw a third man outside the home.
One of the men took Mercer to his bedroom and made him hand over $200. The robber “apologized to him and said that ‘they’ were making him do this,” according to an arrest report.
Mercer was bleeding from both arms when deputies arrived at the house. He told them he believed one of the men involved was his neighbor, Jody Medders, who knew Mercer kept money in the house and who he had been “having ‘problems’ with” recently, according to the arrest report.
Medders and another man, Julio Allen, were arrested near the scene — in both cases initially for unrelated crimes; Medders for carrying ammunition while a convicted felon and Allen for drug possession — when deputies noted that they matched the suspect descriptions.
Medders identified the third man as Welch, and said he’d met up with him earlier and followed Welch and Allen, who came out of the woods to meet Welch, at a distance because he thought their actions suspicious. He said he watched the two go into Mercer’s home and come back out.
Deputies found Welch walking shirtless along U.S.1 at about 4:23 a.m. A packet of cocaine fell out of his wallet when he deputies tried to pull out his driver’s license to check his ID.
Mercer later identified Welch in a lineup as the man who’d forced his way into the home and taken the 200.
Medders was charged with probation violation and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, and Allen, who had an alibi for the robbery, according to the arrest report, was charged with possession of methadone.
Welch’s prior felony convictions include including two burglaries, a grand theft over $20,000, and acting as an accessory after the fact to robbery. He has 22 prior misdemeanor convictions.
