Lorain police say 24-year-old Nicholas Bland was on a robbery spree when he broke into an apartment on West Erie Avenue more than a year ago.
Now, the attacker is scheduled to be sentenced.
“I was terrified. He almost took my life,” said 71-year-old Jenny Branscum.
Branscum woke up to find Bland in her bedroom.
“Then he dragged me off the bed, then he taped my eyes, my mouth, my hands,” she said.
Bland smashed a gun into her head repeatedly causing her to bleed profusely.
“I can still feel the indentation in my head from the beating,” Branscum said.
Branscum manages the apartments and had just collected rent.
She believes someone told Bland about the cash before she could deposit it in the bank.
Bland stole $4,000 in rent, $400 of Jenny’s money, her car and her cell phone.
He left her tied up on the floor with duct tape and a telephone cord.
“I finally got up, got myself untwisted and called police,” Branscum said.
The robbery and beating have left her too afraid to leave her apartment without her mace.
At night, she turns down dinner invitations out of fear of going outside.
“I just make up an excuse why I can’t go, because I’m afraid,” Branscum said.
Bland, who has been convicted in Branscum's case, and four other robberies, could get more than 20 years in prison.
Branscum worries he could get the minimum of 8 years.
When Bland is in Lorain County Common Pleas Court next Wednesday, Branscum plans to urge Judge Raymond Ewers to give him a stiff sentence.
“He should get…I won’t say life, but I think he should get more time than what I heard he might get,” she said.
She also has a message for Bland: “I’d like to tell him where to go, and how to get there."
