Ex-soldier pleads in downtown Columbus assault sparked by fake cocaine deal

Two soldiers decided one brutal beating was not punishment enough for a man who sold them fake cocaine last February in downtown Columbus.

So when 44-year-old Antonio Sadler staggered back to his feet after he first was assaulted Feb. 26 near a bank machine in a Broadway breezeway leading to a Columbus State University parking garage, the two Army staff sergeants came back and beat him again – punching him with their fists, kicking him when he fell to the pavement, and leaving him with broken ribs and orbital fractures around his eyes.

Their persistence led to their capture: Columbus police caught Randall Levi Glahn and Tobias Longoria Jr. right there at the scene, before they could walk away again. They were charged with robbery, assault and trying to buy illegal drugs.

Catching a third suspect took more time, as Reuben Paul Frantz was not associated with the two soldiers and had nothing to do with the drug deal, authorities said: He just happened to see two guys beating and kicking a man, and decided not only to join in, but to take the victim’s wallet, remove $60 cash from inside it and hand the wallet to Glahn.

The whole thing was caught on at least three video cameras, one belonging to the bank and two to CSU. It did not take police long to identify Frantz, whom they arrested March 31. On Oct. 13, the 26-year-old pleaded guilty to robbery and battery, and was sentenced to eight years’ probation and a $1,300 fine.

On Monday, Glahn, 29, pleaded guilty to robbery and attempting to procure cocaine. He also was sentenced to eight years’ probation, with 90 to 100 days to be served in a minimum-security probation detention center.

Charges still are pending against Longoria, 33, who is free on bond and can’t be found, said prosecutor Kimberly Schwartz. A warrant has been issued for his arrest, and authorities are looking for him, she said.

Sadler initially was accused of selling 1.4 grams of suspected cocaine, but prosecutors dropped that case in Superior Court on June 8, after lab tests proved the powder wasn’t cocaine. Instead he was charged in state court with the misdemeanor offense of distributing an imitation controlled substance.

In court Monday, Schwartz told Judge Maureen Gottfried that the security cameras captured the entire encounter, including Sadler’s approaching the two sergeants, who were not in uniform. The soldiers then withdrew cash from the bank machine and gave it to Sadler, who in return handed them something, she said.

As the three parted, Glahn tasted what he’d been given to test it, and decided it was not cocaine. Then he and Longoria turned back and attacked Sadler, punching him until he fell, then kicking him as he lay curled up on the ground, Schwartz said.

And then, after the soldiers walked off and Sadler got up, they came back and did it again, she said.

It was about 3:30 a.m. in the 1000 block of Broadway, where the cameras also recorded CSU students walking by.

Sadler, who already was in poor health, required extensive hospital treatment afterward, Schwartz said: “The beating and assault aggravated conditions he already had.”

Represented by defense attorney Jennifer Curry, Glahn apologized in court Monday and asked that he not be confined so long that he lost his home and current job. Neither he nor Longoria are still in the Army, Schwartz said.

At the time of Sadler’s assault, Glahn was with the 198th Infantry Brigade, and Longoria was assigned to the 194th Armored Division, according to Fort Benning authorities.

This story was originally published January 8, 2018 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Ex-soldier pleads in downtown Columbus assault sparked by fake cocaine deal."