Staff photo / Ed Runyan Jedediah M. Thomas, 45, talks to Judge Anthony D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court this week about plans to send him for more evaluation of his competency to stand trial on a burglary charge. At right is his attorney, David Betras.

YOUNGSTOWN — Judge Anthony D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court has ordered that Jedediah M. Thomas, 45, of Overland Avenue, be sent to Heartland Behavioral Healthcare, a state mental hospital.

He is going there in an attempt to restore him to competency to stand trial on a burglary charge and one of theft from a person in a protected class.

At a hearing this week, D’Apolito noted that two evaluations had been done on Thomas — one finding him competent to stand trial, the other finding him not competent. So the judge has determined that Thomas should be sent Heartland for observation and assessment.

After four months, he will be brought back to the court, where the assessment will be reviewed and a determination will be made on what to do with his case.

At the hearing, Thomas asked the judge how soon he would be transported to the Heartland, and the judge told him it would be as soon as a “bed is available” at the facility.

Thomas is charged in a July 25, 2021, break-in at a home in the 300 block of West Marion Avenue.

Police were called to the home for an alarm drop. When officers arrived, they found the front door forced open with damage to the frame.

Officers checked the house and found nobody inside. Officers learned that the resident of the home had been in the hospital during the time of the break-in.

A relative looked around and told the police that the television had been stolen. The home had several security cameras, police said.