From OFFICE OF WOOD COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Dobson announced today (May 13, 2026) that Jakub U Heintzelman, 19, pled guilty to felony offenses of Reckless Homicide with a gun specification and Improper Transportation of a Firearm in a Motor Vehicle as well as misdemeanor offenses of Carrying a Concealed Weapon and an underage alcohol law violation.
These charges resulted from the January 23, shooting death of a 15-year-old girl in Lake Township.
Heintzelman also pled guilty to two counts of Illegal Use of Minor in Nudity-Oriented Material based on information that was found on the defendant’s cell phone. Prosecutors made clear that the victims in the latter two offenses were separate from each other and separate from the victim of the homicide.
Late in the evening of January 23, 2026, Lake Township Police and EMS arrived at the Defendant’s apartment where they located the victim who was already deceased from a gunshot wound.
The investigation revealed that the victim had been at the apartment with other friends while Heintzelman was apparently cleaning or dismantling the gun. Further investigation showed that earlier in the day Heintzelman had been transporting the handgun in his car while fully loaded and accessible. Investigators also uncovered other evidence of Heintzelman’s reckless handling of guns.
Reckless Homicide is a third-degree felony, subjecting the offender to a maximum prison term of 3 years, while the Improper Transportation offense is fourth-degree felony, exposing an offender to a maximum eighteen months in prison. The Illegal Use of a Minor charges are second-degree felonies, each carrying a maximum penalty of 8 years in prison. Under Ohio law, misdemeanor counts must be served concurrently to any prison time.
A gun specification is an addition to a criminal charge which states that an offender used a firearm in the commission of the offense. It adds a mandatory three-year sentence to the sentence for the underlying charge.
The victim’s mother read a statement to the court as well as a letter the victim wrote “to her future self.” She wiped away tears as she said she would miss everything she would never get to see her daughter do or get to do with her. The father of the victim’s boyfriend also emotionally read a statement detailing the effect the death had on his son and the community.
Following the joint recommendation of the prosecutors and the defense, Common Pleas Judge Molly Mack ordered the Defendant to serve the maximum sentence for the homicide and related charges of seven and a half years in prison as well as four years in prison for each of the Illegal Use of a Minor offenses. The court ordered the last sentences to be served consecutively to the other offenses, but concurrently to each other, for a total sentence of eleven and a half years.
Under the Reagan Tokes law, because the Illegal Use of a Minor offenses are second degree felonies, the Ohio prison system would be permitted to extend his prison term by up to two years for any misconduct while incarcerated. Heintzelman was also classified at a Tier II Sex Offender and will be required to register with the Sheriffs Office every six months for 25 years once he is released from prison.
“Cases like this haveno good outcome,” said Dobson. “The judge was right when she said that nothing she could do could bring a true remedy to this tragedy. Foolish, reckless handling of firearms as if they were toys causes this kind of horrific outcome. This was a senseless, completely avoidable event. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family and the many friends who showed up today to honor this young girl. We also want to thank the men and women of the Lake Township Police Department, who have worked diligently on this case from the beginning to uncover as much of the story as could be found.”
