GreeneStreets. Feature photo of a back country road in Greene County, Indiana.


Lyons man sentenced to 10 years in connection with burglaries and other mischief in Lyons

A Lyons man, who racked up three serious felony cases as a result of a series of incidents in Lyons last summer, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with two suspended, when he appeared before Judge Dena Martin in Greene Superior Court a few days before Christmas.

Brian Kendall

Brian Kendall

Brian Shane Kendall, 42 at the time of his arrest, now 43, of Lyons, was arrested on July 19 by Greene County Sheriff’s Det. Shawn Cullison. In the days that followed, three criminal cases were filed against Kendall, accusing him of burglaries and thefts of numerous items including a golf cart, coins, guns and other miscellaneous.

The details about these accusations were included in probable cause affidavits and in previous stories on GreeneStreets – will include the info from those stories at the end of this story.

Kendall did not post bond and has remained in jail since the day of his arrest. In November, he signed a negotiated plea agreement which was approved by the court. Two of the criminal cases were dismissed and in the case charging him with two counts of burglary, two other counts were dismissed and Kendall changed his plea to guilty on both burglary counts.

During his sentencing hearing last Thursday, December 20, Kendall was then convicted of the two counts of burglary, both Level 4 felonies, and sentenced to 10 years in prison on both counts. However, he will serve those sentences concurrently – at the same time.

Two years of the 10 were suspended and when he’s released from the Indiana Department of Corrections (DOC), he will serve two years on supervised probation.

Kendall was also ordered to have no contact with several individuals in the Lyons area.

With eight years to serve in DOC, Kendall was given credit for 156 days already served in the Greene County Jail at the time of his sentencing and he will be given good time credit for those days if eligible.

Kendall will also be eligible for good time credit in prison but since he is guilty of Level 4 felonies, under Indiana law, he must serve at least 75 percent of his time, or six years.


First story posted about Kendall:

Lyons man facing a variety of charges in two cases filed late Friday

A Lyons man had two criminal cases filed against him late on Friday, July 20. When questioned, he allegedly told a deputy he doesn’t remember it all and he is sorry, but he’s still facing a variety of charges.

Brian Shane Kendall, 42, was arrested by Greene County Sheriff’s Detective Shawn Cullison after a Lyons woman called GCSD dispatch late Wednesday night to report Kendall was trespassing in her back yard.

A couple of days earlier, the same woman had reported a burglary at her residence and Kendall was a suspect. Several firearms had been reported as missing along with other items.

Det. Cullison responded and as he was southbound on State Road 67 coming into Lyons, he saw a black Dodge truck, with some items in the bed of the truck, driving west on Broad Street. Cullison knew the truck belonged to Kendall, he stopped the truck, and Kendall was the driver.

When asked if he had been to the residence where the burglary had taken place, Kendall allegedly said he had found a lawn mower in his shed that was not his and he assumed it came from the recent burglary so he was taking it back to them.

Cullison reported Kendall’s speech was rapid and he saw signs that would indicate use of methamphetamine.

Deputy Marshal Russell Walls of the Worthington Police Department and GCSD Deputy Alan Jackson then arrived in Lyons to assist.

Kendall did not do well on field sobriety tests and was transported to the sheriff’s department. He didn’t do well on tests there either but he allegedly admitted he had used meth earlier in the day and that there was a bag with marijuana in his truck.

He agreed to a chemical test but before he was transported to Greene County General Hospital for a blood draw, he changed his mind, and the deputy applied for a search warrant to get the blood sample. Results are pending.

Deputies reported the items found in Kendall’s truck included a handgun with a serial number that matched a gun reported as stolen from the resident in Lyons, and marijuana. Since Kendall is a convicted felon, he did not have a permit to carry a handgun.

So Kendall was booked into jail early on Thursday, July 19, by Det. Cullison. His bond was set at $14,500 surety with ten percent allowed. He did not bond out.

As a result of this incident, a criminal case was filed against Kendall in Greene Circuit Court late on Friday, July 2o.

But at the same time, a second case was filed against him, also in Greene Circuit Court – this one stemming from incidents that had taken place earlier in the day on Wednesday, July 18.

Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy James Carpenter investigated the earlier incident. In this case, a male resident of Lyons had contacted Greene County Sheriff’s Dispatch early Wednesday to report that his golf cart had been stolen, but he had found it.

The man said his golf cart was at his home, plugged in and charging, late on Tuesday, July 17, but when he went out early Wednesday, it was gone. He and a friend went looking for it and saw it sitting next to the Lyons town barn.

The man and his friend said they saw Kendall walking out of the building, carrying two jugs of oil, but he took off running when he saw the two men. The man said there was a battery and items in a cardboard box on the golf cart that did not belong to him.

An official from the Town of Lyons then arrived on this scene and identified the items on the golf cart as town property. Deputies also discovered damage to the town barn.

When GCSD Deputy Terry Wade attempted to make contact with Kendall at his home, he was unsuccessful, but he did see two jugs of oil sitting next to Kendall’s front door.

Then several hours later, Kendall was arrested and wound up in jail. When interviewed there, Kendall allegedly had a story to tell in which he said he had knocked on the golf cart owner’s door to borrow the cart, but nobody answered so he borrowed the cart and then took it back. When told the cart was found at the town barn, Kendall allegedly said he thought he had taken it back but he had been using methamphetamine and has not remembered what had been going on.

Deputy Carpenter reported that Kendall said he doesn’t remember being at the town barn, doesn’t remember taking two jugs of oil and didn’t know why he would. When told the door to the barn was damaged, he allegedly said he didn’t know why he had done any of this and he was sorry.

A warrant was issued for Kendall’s arrest in the second case with a bond set at $19,500 surety with ten percent cash allowed.

That’s a total of $34,000 surety bond for both cases. It would take $3,400 cash for Kendall to be released.

Kendall is facing a number of criminal counts.

In one case:

  • Convicted felon carrying a handgun – defendant has a felony conviction without the last 15 years, a Level 5 felony,

  • Possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor, and

  • Operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor.

In the other case:

  • Burglary, a Level 5 felony,

  • Theft – defendant has a prior conviction for theft, a Level 6 felony,

  • Auto theft – theft of entire vehicle, a Level 6 felony,

  • Theft, a Class A misdemeanor, and

  • Criminal mischief, a Class B misdemeanor.

Second story posted about Kendall

Update: New case filed against Brian Kendall, accused of additional burglaries

Besides the officers noted in the above story, additional burglaries in Lyons have been under investigation by Deputy James Carpenter of the Greene County Sheriffs’ Department, with assistance from the Indiana State Police and other officers.

Following Carpenter’s investigation, a third case was filed against Kendall in Greene Superior Court and a warrant was issued for his arrest on Thursday, September 6. That could be easily served at any time because Kendall is already in the Greene County Jail. He did not post bond after his arrest on July 19.

In the newest case, he is facing two counts of burglary of a dwelling, both Level 4 felonies, and two counts of theft of a firearm, both Level 6 felonies.

These charges stem from burglaries that took place on Tuesday, July 17, the day before the theft of the golf cart and burglary of items from the town barn – both covered in the previous story.

Carpenter says two homes on Franklin Street were broken into and numerous items were stolen, including a long list of prescription medication, jewelry, some clothing, a safe that contained family papers such as wills, checkbooks and photographs, a mower, weedeater, cordless drills, a coping saw, a semi-automatic rifle in a case plus a snub-nose revolver and a semi-automatic handgun. Another missing item was a five-gallon jug that was full of coins, with an estimated value of $500-600.

Deputy Carpenter alleges the cashing-in of those coins from the jug was caught on store security video at Walmart. Some of the coins allegedly were taken out of the jug, counted and placed in coin wrappers, but Carpenter said video shows Kendall putting coins into a coin-counting machine at Walmart then going to the service desk to collect over $320 in cash.

In the course of the investigation, Carpenter interviewed numerous individuals including the victims of the burglaries and several people who talked to Kendall, were with him, or gave him a ride during the day of these burglaries.

Late in July, Carpenter got a tip about where stolen firearms were hidden in a cistern in the basement of Kendall’s residence. Carpenter was told one would have to go 12 feet back through a hole to find the cistern. Carpenter obtained permission to search the house.

On July 28, Deputy Carpenter and GCSD Det. Shawn Cullison did search the house and reported finding a crawl space in the basement that had all the insulation pushed to one side. There was some type of ledge to negotiate to get into the crawl space and Carpenter said Det. Cullison crawled back into the space and found the rifle in the case, hidden in the insulation.

With Kendall’s change of plea and sentencing, all three of these cases have now been decided.