WARREN — A Girard man apologized to his victims, saying he “did a stupid thing” before he was sentenced Wednesday to an indefinite prison sentence of four to six years on a burglary conviction.

Nathan Berkenstock, 19, of Shannon Road, appeared for a sentencing hearing that was postponed April 6 when he didn’t show up in Judge W. Wyatt McKay’s Trumbull County Common Pleas courtroom.

“I just couldn’t do it. That day was my birthday, and I wanted to spend it with my wife and newborn child,” Berkenstock told the judge about his absence.

On Feb. 9, Berkenstock pleaded guilty to a second-degree burglary charge for a May 13, 2021, house break-in in Girard, which also included several juveniles as defendants.

Berkenstock was booked Monday into the Trumbull County jail on the failure-to-appear warrant.

According to the victim, the juveniles were given probation, but she told McKay she wanted to see Berkenstock “punished accordingly,” especially since he had been threatening her son.

“You took the one thing we had in that house, and that was a safe place,” she told the defendant in her victim impact statement.

According to a police report, officers were called to 33 Smithsonian Ave. about 10:41 p.m. May 14. A neighbor had been called by the homeowner, who was on vacation, who said his home surveillance camera caught three people inside the home the night before.

The neighbor went to see what happened and found the back door “wide open,” the report states.

Girard police found a crowbar near the door and the lock to the door damaged. The report states two shotguns and another handgun were missing.

The report states “all the drawers in the living room and the bedrooms were rummaged through” and the contents dumped on the ground. The empty box that had contained the handgun also was found.

The homeowner told the judge that the guns were “family heirlooms” that can’t be replaced.

“Some aren’t even made anymore,” the victim said.

McKay called Berkenstock a “threat to society” and that he was not amenable to probation because of the “dangerous situation” he created because of the stolen firearms that are still missing.

“You have impacted the victims psychologically,” McKay told Berkenstock, who fought back tears after he was told of his indefinite prison sentence.

gvogrin@tribtoday.com