Man pleads guilty to breaking into ex-girlfriend’s residence

LACONIA — A Warner man was sentenced to time served after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a break-in in Gilmanton where a person who had a protective order against him was living.

Brian J. Gavell-Cahill, 20, of Kearsarge Mountain Road, in Warner, pleaded guilty in Belknap Superior Court last Monday to charges of burglary and criminal mischief.

Judge James D. O’Neill III sentenced Gavell-Cahill to 12 months in the House of Correction on each of the charges, with the sentences running concurrently. Gavell-Cahill received credit for the 176 days he had spent in confinement prior to the plea-and-sentencing hearing. The balance of his sentence was suspended on condition of good behavior.

According to the arrest affidavit in the case, Gavell-Cahill ripped out a screen and forced open a bedroom window at a residence where his former girlfriend was living. Once inside, he took pictures of the room and then texted them to the victim, the affidavit states. The victim also told police a reptile enclosure was missing.

Gavell-Cahill was ordered to stay away from the victim, and to undergo a risk assessment for violence and to provide the court with findings of that evaluation within 60 days.

Under the terms of the negotiated plea, the Belknap County Attorney’s Office dropped a charge of violation of a protective order and a second criminal mischief charge.