In about one week, Elmon Booth will hear the compliments people are saying about him.
Booth, 82, of Middletown, Ohio, was beaten with a brick and robbed last week by three men during a home invasion. The thieves are accused of stealing a 24-inch television, $10 worth of change and Booth’s hearing aids that were sitting on a table next to him. Middletown police said the thieves sold the TV for heroin.
Robert Tester Jr., 40, Kyle Peck, 20, and Russell Bumgardner, 28, are charged with aggravated burglary and felonious assault for allegedly breaking through a glass window around 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 6 while Booth was lying on a couch.
In the days since the robbery, friends and neighbors have delivered food, fixed his window and put bars on it, repaired some plumbing and moved his washer and dryer from the basement to the main floor of his house.
Less than two weeks later, Booth, who was driven by neighbor Terina King-Smeal from Middletown to West Chester, had his hearing tested and hearing aids fitted at an audiology and hearing care center in town. Catie Coyle, a hearing aid specialist, said the hearing aids retail for about $8,000 and are “top of the line.”
Then she added: “He deserves the best.”
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King-Smeal said she was overwhelmed when she heard about the hearing aid donation.
“I started crying because it was so awesome for him,” she said.
After the attack, Booth’s world was “turned upside down,” King-Smeal said. His face was severely swollen, his eyes, arms and legs blackened. Booth said his throat was still sore after being chocked by one of the men.
King-Smeal said the suspects showed “no remorse” and stared at Booth during a short court appearance Wednesday in Middletown Municipal Court.
Booth said when he was attacked, he wished his gun was beside him instead of his bedroom.
“I’d shot all three of them,” he said. “I hope they get a long sentence. We don’t need them.”
While at Avada, he sat in a booth behind a glass door while Coyle tested his hearing. Then, she placed pink mold in his ears to fit him for hearing aids. She said the devices will be ordered from a company in New Jersey, and hopefully be delivered within one week.
Booth said he and his father owned and operated Booth Construction in Middletown for about 20 years. They worked throughout Middletown and the Cincinnati area, he said. On Thursday, he wore work boots and pants, a flannel shirt and had a pack of Kentucky Best cigarettes in his shirt pocket.
“He’s just a good ol’ boy,” Coyle said. “He has that, ‘You can’t get me down’ spirit.”
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