MORRISON – A 29-year-old Sterling man charged four years ago in several area break-ins was sentenced this week to 2½ years of probation in one case, while a second case was dismissed.

Dakota L.G. Bottoms was charged Sept. 18, 2020, in Whiteside County court with burglary and theft worth more than $10,000 but less than $100,000 in one case, and with residential burglary and theft worth more than $500 but less than $10,000 in the other.

The first two charges were punishable by three to seven years each, and the second two were punishable by four to 15 and one to three years, respectively.

Bottoms pleaded guilty Monday to the most serious theft charge, and the other charges, including two counts of misdemeanor trespass, were dismissed per a plea agreement.

If he violates the terms of his probation, he could be resentenced to a prison term.

According to court records, Bottoms and Thomas E. Dugger Sr. broke into a Sterling home Sept. 12 and into what then was Sterling Furniture, 3606 E. Lincolnway, on Sept. 1, 2020.

Dugger, 54, of Rock Falls, is facing the same charges; those two cases still are proceeding, as is a third 2020 case in which he is charged with dealing less than 5 grams of methamphetamine, a charge punishable by three to seven years in prison.

Dugger was expected to have had a hearing Monday in Whiteside County, but he is in federal custody after being indicted March 21, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on one count of selling, distributing or dispensing narcotics – more than 50 grams of methamphetamine – on or about July 16, 2022.

He faces 10 years to life if convicted or 15 years to life depending on his previous felony convictions, which include violent crimes and crimes involving drugs. There is no parole in the federal system.

His next status hearing is Friday, March 8.

As for his criminal history, Dugger was charged July 24, 2018, in Whiteside County with felony driving on a suspended license. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison Nov. 24, 2021.

Dugger was released from Vandalia Correctional Center on Aug. 29, but was not brought back to face charges in Whiteside County. Instead, he was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service in his federal case.

He is being held at the Winnebago County jail in Rockford.

Other Whiteside County convictions that could affect the length of a federal sentence:

• Dugger was sentenced April 29, 2015, to a year in prison for driving on a suspended license.
• On May 30, 2007, he got nine years for dealing 15 to 100 grams of cocaine, and on March 30, 1994, was sentenced to three years for dealing 30 to 50 grams of marijuana.
• On April 27, 1992, he was sentenced to three years for aggravated battery of a police officer.