Amish Kidnapping Case Bound Over to Common Pleas Court

October 22, 2025 by Allison Wilson

Two of the four men facing charges related to a home invasion, robbery and attempted kidnapping of an Amish child Oct. 9 in Middlefield have had their cases bound over to the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas, placing their cases in the hands of a grand jury.

Bradford Hosler, 33, of Canton, who is facing first-degree felony charges of kidnapping, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary, waived his right to a preliminary hearing Oct. 20 and was subsequently bound over. 

William Hatfield, 44, of Massillon, facing a first-degree felony kidnapping charge, did not waive his right to a preliminary hearing and appeared before Chardon Municipal Court Judge Stupica Oct. 21. 

Stupica found probable cause and bound the case over to the common pleas court.

The other two suspects, Randall Cromer, 36, of Doylestown, who is facing a first-degree felony kidnapping charge, and Ricky Martin, 43, of Canton, who is facing a first-degree felony charge for complicity to commit aggravated robbery, have preliminary hearings in Chardon Municipal Court scheduled for Oct. 23 at 10 a.m.

Hatfield and Cromer both pleaded not guilty to their sole charges at their Oct. 17 arraignments.

Hosler, Hatfield and Cromer are accused of taking an Amish 8-year old hostage while violently ransacking a home in search of money and attempting to abduct, and threatening to kill, an Amish child in the home when they did not find more than an estimated $5,000, according to law enforcement officials. 

Martin, a former Amish taxi driver, is accused of helping plan the robbery.

Both Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz and Hatfield’s attorney, Carly Snavely, waived their opening remarks at the Oct. 20 hearing, going right to calling witnesses. 

Flaiz called Geauga County Sheriff’s Office detective Andrew Humar to the stand. 

The child was separated from his father — the only other person home — at the onset of the robbery and taken to a separate floor of the house, Humar recounted, noting an electrical stunning device was also used on the child. 

“The victim in the case, the adult, had not seen his son for the duration of the robbery incident. He did not know the manner, the welfare of his son at that time, ultimately until the end of the incident when the son came running back into the backdoor, he realized his son was actually safe,” Humar said.

The victims identified all three perpetrators as white males, one with a “crown shaped” or “sharp shaped” tattoo on his face, Humar said, adding the three fled the scene in a black Chevy truck with stickers on an inner back window, so you could see their silhouette.

Humar recounted an exhaustive search of surveillance video from private businesses and Flock cameras in the area following the incident. The suspect vehicle was located as having been at a Marathon gas station in Middlefield Village prior to the crime, with a front seat passenger entering the sales floor. 

Surveillance images were provided to the Stark County Sheriff’s Office Metro Drug Unit, who were reportedly able to identify the passenger as Hatfield. 

GCSO detectives were also able to cross reference the images with photos from social media, where they were reportedly able to match a tattoo on the passenger’s left hand to one on Hatfield, Humar said.

Upon his arrest, Hatfield also reportedly identified himself in the Marathon images, Humar said.

Hosler was the first of the suspects identified, with detectives immediately making note of his distinct facial tattoos. His photograph was shown to the victims, who reportedly identified him, Humar said. 

Hosler was out on parole at the time of the crime and had a GPS unit affixed to his ankle, giving a latitude and longitude every 60 seconds, he added.

Upon review, the GPS unit placed Hosler at the Marathon station at the same time as Hatfield, Humar said, adding upon leaving the Marathon station, Hosler reportedly traveled to the crime scene and entered the property, where he remained until around the time of the 911 call, when the suspects fled the scene.

The suspect vehicle left Geauga County, traveling back to Stark County with multiple stops, Humar said, adding one notable stop was a Get-Go gas station, where upon pulling up to a gas pump, Hosler allegedly had a back seat passenger later identified as Cromer who exited the vehicle and appeared to reenact the crime while talking beside the vehicle.

Hosler also reportedly exited the vehicle at a BP Gas station, where he made several purchases and was observed counting a large amount of currency, Humar said.

Detectives reportedly confirmed the three suspected robbers met up with Martin earlier in the day at the Middlefield Walmart through surveillance video and Hosler’s GPS data, Humar said.

Hosler, upon arrest, also outlined the crime to law enforcement.

The money was not as much as Martin said was in the house, and the three robbers reportedly decided to tell him they didn’t receive any money, thus cutting him out of the cash split, Humar said.

Hosler reportedly identified Hatfield in surveillance images, Humar said, adding Hatfield, when arrested, was also wearing several items of clothing worn during the crime. 

In his closing statement, Flaiz asked the court to bind the matter over to the common pleas court in order for it to be presented to a grand jury.

Stupica ultimately found probable cause that Hatfield is the person who committed the crime as alleged and bound the matter over to the court of common pleas, where it will go before the grand jury.