Burglary conviction brings 16-year prison term

A young man with ties to both Oconee County and two northeast Georgia counties has been ordered to prison for 16 years for burglary and larceny. An Oconee General Sessions Court at mid day today returned guilty verdicts against Jonathan Allen Finney as the result of a home burglary in the Ebenezer Community. Finney was arrested last year. Judge Lawton McIntosh followed the verdicts with a sentence of 20 years in prison, suspended to 16 years and five years probation. Several conditions were attached to the sentence, including the requirement that the 32-year old Finney pay the victim $500 dollars in restitution. Before sentencing, Deputy Solicitor David Wagner told the judge that multiple other charges alleging burglary and safecracking face Finney in Oconee County and, from other incidents, there are warrants for his arrest in Stephens and Habersham counties. Finney apologized and said he would like to be able to get his life together. His father, Charles Allen Finney, expressed a similar hope for his son. The proceeding ended with a tearful goodbye as the parents hugged their son before he was escorted by court officers to prison.