Archive
Yonkers man caught stealing flat screen televisions from Wal Mart www.privateofficer.com
Yonkers NY April 30 2012 A Yonkers man store security noticed wheeling two stolen flat screen televisions from Wal Mart was arrested Saturday evening while trying to drive away from the store, police say.
Police pulled over James Hankins, 45, near the intersection of Hamilton Avenue and Renaissance Square after security said he drove off in his black Jeep after leaving the store without paying. Police noticed the televisions in the back of the vehicle and made the arrest at about 8:15 p.m.
Security identified Hankins, of 198 Hawthorne Ave., as the man who stole the television. The 42-inch flat screen televisions are valued at $498 and $628.
Hankins was charged with grand larceny, a felony, and received a traffic citation because he did not have a valid license. He was held for court the following day.
Former Galveston’s department of traffic employees indicted on felony charges www.privateofficer.com
The Daily News obtained the indictments Friday against Michael N. Dricks, former traffic operations supervisor, and former technician William Melvin Letroise.
The city launched an investigation of the traffic operations department earlier this year and in January temporarily placed all 12 traffic division employees on paid administrative leave. Soon thereafter, two employees, including Dricks, resigned.
The Daily News, through an open records request, obtained records revealing Dricks, 58, was paid more than $390,000 during the last four years in overtime in addition to his $48,279 salary. Dricks didn’t meet the requirements to be a salaried employee, records revealed.
Letroise, 41, netted $37,280 in overtime from 2009 to 2011 above his $40,059 salary, according to the city.
On Wednesday, the grand jury indicted Dricks and Letroise each on one count of theft by a public servant and falsifying a government document, an overtime sheet, interim police Chief Henry Porretto said.
An indictment is not a guilty verdict. It means a grand jury heard enough evidence to send the case to trial.
Dricks, a former senior traffic technician, is accused of unlawfully appropriating less than $1,500 from Eric Wilson, the city’s assistant city manager, between Dec. 16 and Jan. 7.
The second indictment against Dricks accuses him of making a false entry in a governmental record, a request for 10 hours of overtime, on Dec. 18.
Letroise, a former traffic signal technician II, was similarly accused of unlawfully appropriating less than $500 from Wilson in the same timetable and of falsifying a government record in requesting three hours of overtime on Dec. 23, the indictments state.
Both charges against Dricks are state jail felonies, police Sgt. Jeremy Kylen, head of the Financial Crimes Unit, said. The falsifying of a government document charge against Letroise also is a state jail felony but the theft by public servant charge is a Class A misdemeanor, Kylen said.
A message left Friday with Dricks wasn’t immediately returned. Sam Finegan, Dricks’ attorney, declined to comment. There was no public phone listing for Letroise, and it is unclear whether he has an attorney.
Bonds would be set at $2,000 on each charge, First Assistant Prosecutor Donna Cameron said.
“The city audit uncovered what might be discrepancies and set up an action plan,” Porretto said. “They followed the plan to confirm their suspicions and they took the appropriate actions.”
The city then referred the case to police for further investigation, and the department submitted its findings to the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office, Porretto said.
Authorities would contact Dricks and Letroise to allow them to surrender on warrants after issuance, as it usually takes a couple of days for warrants to be issued from indictments, Kylen said.
Porretto declined further comment.
“We’re limiting public information on the case that has not gone to trial yet,” he said. “We want to be forthcoming, but the case is still under investigation, and we might be checking other leads from other issues.”
Source:Galvaston Daily News
Richmond crime up, 31 shootings, 5 murders in April www.privateofficer.com
Richmond VA April 30 2012 More people have been shot in Richmond this month than in any month in at least five years, which authorities attribute in part to several violent robberies and a pair of ruthless men believed responsible for at least three shootings — and one of those men is still at large.
Thirty-one people have been shot this month in the city, five fatally. That surpasses the 30 shootings in April 2010, although that month remains the city’s deadliest since at least 2007, with nine homicides.
At least nine of this month’s shootings occurred during robberies. Accidental shootings and suicides are not included in the totals.
Authorities said they have identified two men suspected in three robberies that resulted in shootings in Richmond and at least one incident outside the city. Investigators have one of the men in custody and are looking for the other one. Authorities declined to identify the suspects, citing the ongoing investigations.
“We’re talking about two violent offenders who carried out a series of events here in April that kind of defined the month,” Richmond police Lt. Emmett Williams said.
Officials believe the two men were behind the fatal shooting of Khalfaanii Hasaan Sultaan, 37, of Tampa, Fla., in the early afternoon of April 9 behind the Chicago Manor Apartments in the 1700 block of Chicago Avenue in South Richmond. Police suspect the motive was robbery.
The two also are suspected of shooting a man in a robbery at the Lofts at Trolley Station apartments in South Richmond. That victim remains in a coma.
The same men are suspects in a robbery and shooting in the East End. The victim’s injuries were not life-threatening.
“We haven’t seen this level of violence from two people in many, many years,” Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Learned Barry said.
Speaking about this month’s high number of shootings, law enforcement officials note that April is usually a bad month. Since early 2007, more people were shot in April on average than in any other month, authorities said. Authorities said many factors could explain why April typically sees a high number of shootings, including warmer weather.
“Things come alive in the spring, even violent criminals,” said Richmond Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael E. Hollomon, who handles many of the city’s shootings, stabbings and other brutal attacks.
Despite the high number of shootings this month, Hollomon pointed out that February and March saw eight and nine shootings, respectively. Those are the only two consecutive months to have single-digit totals since at least early 2007.
Authorities also said the police are working hard to identify suspects and make arrests. “The public needs to know the police are all over this,” Barry said. “There’s no lack of focus at all.”
This month’s shootings include the slaying of 17-year-old Keona Johnson in a robbery of a dice game in North Richmond and the killing of a bystander, Aliza Allen, who was caught in the crossfire of a shootout in the East End. Authorities say that Allen’s killing could be linked to a shooting that wounded three people later that day at a nearby convenience store.
Two brothers, Ahmad K. Phillips and Ahkeem K. Phillips, were fatally shot April 18 after an argument about dog feces that had been left outside Ahmad Phillips’ apartment.
In another case, two men shot each other in the 3900 block of Chamberlayne Avenue. Both men survived.
Authorities believe another shooting on April 7 was carried out in retaliation for a shooting several days earlier.
Most recently in Richmond, two people were shot in the leg Friday evening within about an hour at the Gilpin Court public housing complex. The first shooting wounded a man and the second injured a woman. Police believe the incidents are unrelated.
On Saturday about 6 a.m., a male appeared at VCU Medical Center with a shoulder wound and said he had been shot in the 1500 block of East Broad Street. The man gave authorities conflicting statements, Williams said.
Police said they are working hard to arrest the perpetrators of this month’s shootings, and they credit members of the community for their cooperation.
“The majority of those cases either have suspects already identified, individuals that have already been arrested or individuals that already have warrants on file,” said Richmond police Maj. Steve Drew.
The recent stretch of violence also has kept members of the area’s U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force busy as they hunt for suspects.
“They’re working many hours, around the clock, on these cases,” said Kevin Connolly, a supervisory inspector for the Marshals Service who oversees the Task Force. “Guys have been working till 1:30 in the morning, 5:30 in the morning, sleeping for a handful of hours and coming back in.”
Despite the recent spike in gun violence, authorities note that violent crime overall has been on a downward trend for many years. Last year, Richmond police recorded the fewest violent offenses that the city has seen since at least 1970. Also last year, police reported 37 homicides, the second-lowest number of any year going back at least to 1970, according to police statistics.
Officials say the city has made great strides over the years. Richmond averaged more than 80 killings per year from 1971 through 2008. The number peaked at 160 in 1994.
“This month was reminiscent of the ’90s in that we had a lot of killings and a lot of shootings,” Barry said. “But statistically, April is a bad month and always a bad month.”
Intoxicated assistant Fairdale High School athletic diriector slams into police car www.privateofficer.com
Louisville KY April 30 2012 An assistant Fairdale High School athletic director was intoxicated when he was driving a pickup truck that struck a Louisville Metro police officer early Sunday, police said.
The police officer was taken to University Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, LMPD spokesman Dwight Mitchell said.
He said Adrian Adkins, 43, tried to flee the scene after the accident.
Adkins is also a softball coach and security guard at Fairdale, Jefferson County Public Schools spokeswoman Lauren Roberts said.
Mitchell said the accident happened shortly after 2 a.m. on the Sndyer near New Cut Road.
“A 3rd division police officer was working a previous car accident on I-265 east of New Cut Road when a white F-150 drove through the accident scene, struck one of the vehicles involved in the accident, which then struck the officer,” Mitchell said.
Adkins was charged with driving under the influence, wanton endangerment, fleeing and evading and resisting arrest.
Source:courier-journal.com
Security guard, two other stabbed at Annapolis Elks Lodge www.privateofficer.com
Annapolis MD April 30 2012 Three people were injured in a triple stabbing at an Annapolis Elks Lodge on Sunday morning, and police say they’re searching for two suspects in the case.
Anne Arundel County Police say that the incident happened just after 1 a.m. at the Elks Lodge at 2517 Solomons Island Road. The stabbing happened during a party at the facility.
Police say three people, including a security guard, were stabbed. They were all taken to a shock trauma center and are currently in stable condition.
Two suspects are being sought in connection with the stabbing.
Police describe them as:
-a black male in his 30s, standing 5-foot-9 with a medium build, wearing a brown leather jacket and white pants
-a black male with a slim build, possibly with a gold tooth
Anyone with information is asked to contact Anne Arundel County Police.
Would be security guard charged in shooting death www.privateofficer.com
Philadelphia PA April 30 2012 A Philadelphia man showing off what he thought was an unloaded gun the day before he was to start a job as a security guard accidentally shot a friend in the face and killed her, police said.
Sandrea Smith, 35, of the 2900 block of North 26th Street, was shot once in the left cheek and died at the scene, according to police. The shooting occurred about 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
The incident happened in a bedroom of a home in the 2100 block of East Somerset Street in Kensington. Robert Jones, 36, who resides at the address, was charged with third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, endangering another person, and weapons charges.
Police said Jones, who thought the gun was not loaded, had taken gun-safety classes for an armed security-guard certification and had a Florida permit to carry a gun.
source-philly.com
U.S. Marshals arrest Oklahoma teacher for sending nude photos of herself to students www.privateofficer.com
Oklahoma City Okl April 30 2012 A teacher’s aide has been jailed after sending nude photos of herself to three 16-year-old students.
U.S. marshals arrested Tiffany Lynne Huffman on charges of sexual misbehaviour.
The 28-year-old woman from Oklahoma is alleged to have struck a friendship with the three teenagers through messages on Facebook.
Police said she began having sexual conversations with each victim and eventually sent them nude photos of herself.
She also sent photos of herself in sheer lingerie via text message from her cell phone.
Court documents show that police have obtained the photos, which were sent between March 30 and April 17.
Huffman worked as a teacher’s aide at the Southmoore High School, near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Police arrest SC man in carjacking and murder www.privateofficer.com
BERKELEY COUNTY, SC April 30 2012 - Authorities are investigating a body that was found on Interstate 26 early Saturday morning in Berkeley County that is connected to a carjacking that occurred in North Charleston.
The North Charleston Police Department says they were called out to a carjacking just before midnight in the 5600 block of Dorchester Road.
According to police, a man armed with a pistol approached a female and another male victim in the parking lot demanding their black 2000 Toyota Camry. The suspect also demanded that the female victim get into the car with him.
The suspect, identified as 27-year-old Tyler Brown-Kelly, then fled in the vehicle with the woman. As the North Charleston officers were searching for the vehicle, they were told that a woman was found dead on the entrance ramp of I-26 near the Jedberg Exit.
A short time later, Dorchester County deputies located the car at a club on Mckeen Street in St. George, where Brown-Kelly was seen running from the vehicle. He was later taken into custody in St. George.
Brown-Kelly will face charges in North Charleston for; kidnapping, carjacking, possession of a firearm during a violent crime and attempted armed robbery.
Investigators say the suspect is also being charged with murder in Berkeley County and is being held at the Hill-Finklea Detention Center in Moncks Corner.
The Berkeley County Coroner’s Office will conduct an autopsy on the body to determine the victim’s cause of death. Her identity has not been released at this time
Source: WCSC
Daytona Beach police shoot man who opened fire on pregnant woman www.privateofficer.com
Authorities said they first received a tip on a non-emergency number at 8:23 p.m. about a man allegedly waiving a gun around in his car at the Daytona Beach International Airport. When officers got closer, they said they spotted the suspect speeding away in his Cadillac at a high rate a speed.
“He has a gun in his car and he’s waiving it around, or he was waiving it around earlier, but he’s sitting there waiting for somebody right now,” said the caller.
Police said the man, later identified as Marvin Calvin Jones, 22, of Charlestown, had picked up a pregnant woman at the airport after she arrived on a flight from Boston.
“We know that the suspect in this case was there to pick up his girlfriend who had just arrived from a flight in Boston,” said Daytona Beach Police Chief, Mike Chitwood.
When officers tried to stop Jones near a Hampton Inn Hotel, police said he exited the vehicle and fired several rounds from a handgun at the officers. Jones then re-entered his car and fled, police said.
Officers followed him onto the campus of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, where he made a second stop near the intersection of Richard Petty Boulevard and ERAU Boulevard. That’s when police said Jones exited his car again began discharging additional rounds at the officers.
“We’re not exactly sure how it happened, either the bad guy gets out and fires at the officers, or turns and puts the gun out of the window of the car and fires at police,” Chitwood said.
Police said the officers returned fire, shooting the assailant five times.
While in custody, authorities said Jones made statements to the officers that he had just shot his wife, who police found slumped over in the vehicle with at least one gunshot wound.
Investigators said victim is a 23-year-old woman who is 14 weeks pregnant. She and Jones were transported to the Halifax Hospital trauma center where they both remain in critical but stable condition.
None of the police officers involved were injured.
Police said the incident appears to be a case of domestic violence. Investigators are trying to find the man who called them and gave police a heads up about Jones.
Jones has been charged with first-degree attempted murder. He is also wanted in New Hampshire in connection with the armed robbery of the Baymont Inn in Lebanon back in January.
Source:www.thebostonchannel.com
Long Beach Police arrest man in stabbing death of 9-year-old girl www.privateofficer.com
Long Beach Police Department said the 9-year-old girl was killed with lacerations allegedly made by her father or stepfather, who had cut himself on several parts of his body. The man was hospitalized in custody, and was in stable condition and will be charged with murder and jailed, police said.
Department spokesperson Nancy Pratt said the girl and parent would not immediately be named, and the L.A. County Coroner’s office told media it was still trying to contact other relatives.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect and victim, both Long Beach residents, shared a parent/child relationship,” Pratt said “It is believed that the suspect caused these injuries to the victim and then attempted to commit suicide.”
But a motive for the attack is unknown at this time and the investigation remains ongoing.
Earlier Saturday, Pratt had confirmed the location of the bodies was near Los Altos United Methodist Church, which is located on Willow Avenue near the 405 Freeway, but could offer few preliminary details.
But reporters on the scene interviewed the first 9-1-1 caller, Nancy Eomuria, and a neighbor several blocks from the park heard about the case. There was another woman who lived a few blocks away, but she told Eyewitness that her husband had seen an adult man and a little girl waling down the street Friday night, and found it odd enough to consider callling the police. Sadly, he did not all police.
“I just thought they were two bodies that were dumped there,” said
Nancy Eomurian, who called 911 and who was interviewed on camera by ABC local affiliate. “He was … conscious looking back toward me,but there was blood everywhere.”
City News Service reported that the bodies were face down, but did not sight a source.
In the Eyewitness News Report, the station said:
“Police looked for clues in a pick-up truck parked outside Linda Jones’s house three blocks from where the girl’s body was found. Jones says she and her husband were home Friday night and heard car doors slamming. Jones’s husband looked outside and saw a man walking away with a young girl.
“He said ‘I actually thought about going after them,’” she said. “Just because it was unusual, it was so late at night. But he didn’t do that.”
The suspect will be formally arrested on suspicion of murder, charged and jailed once he can be released from the hospital, police spokeswoman Pratt said.
Long Beach police are investigating a note that appeared to be written in blood on a wall next to where a young girl’s bloody body was discovered Saturday morning in a Long Beach parking lot.
She was found next to a man who might be her father or stepfather, who was still alive but suffering from self-inflicted wounds, police said.
KTLA News showed video of the note, which consisted of several large letters written in red on the side of a wall next to where both were found. The exact message could not be made out, but KTLA said the police believe it was written in blood and consider it evidence in the case.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. The girl, 9, had fatal cuts to her upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Long Beach police declined to name the man.
Officers arrived at the parking lot off Willow Street and Woodruff Avenue, next to the 405 Freeway and a church, after getting a call around 11 a.m. from a passerby.
Police would not say whether a weapon was found at scene. The man, who was also lying in the parking lot, is still at a hospital and in stable condition.
Both the man and the girl were Long Beach residents. Long Beach police spokeswoman Nancy Pratt said investigators were trying to determine a motive for the slaying. “That’s something we all want to know,” she said.
Some nearby residents held a prayer vigil for the girl Saturday night at the site.
Parolee caught shoplifting $1000 worth of alcohol from Costco www.privateofficer.com
Bloomfield Township MI April 30 2012 A 45-year-old Waterford man is likely facing felony charges for stealing more than $1,000 worth of alcohol from Costco, police reports said.
Bloomfield Township police officers responded to the store at about 2:30 p.m. April 21 after store security detained the man allegedly trying to steal again.
Reports said he was suspected of stealing seven bottles of alcohol over a three-day span.
Officers transported the man to the Bloomfield Township Police Department, where a records check showed the man was recently paroled from prison for undisclosed crimes.
He was booked and taken to the Oakland County Jail for holding at the request of the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Formal charges for first-degree retail fraud are pending, reports said.
Employee Charged in Four Winds Hospital Embezzlement www.privateofficer.com
CROSS RIVER, N.Y. April 30 2012— Donna Rubino, a longtime employee of Four Winds Hospital in Cross River, was charged Wednesday with stealing more than $40,000 from the facility by falsifying records, the New York State Police said.
Rubino, 49, of Wingdale in Dutchess County, was charged with third-degree grand larceny, a class D felony, as a result of a fraud investigation that the state police conducted at the hospital, which treats children and adults with mental health issues.
The state police said Rubino falsified multiple business records over the past four years while working as Four Winds’ director of patient accounts, allowing her to steal more than $40,000 from the hospital.
Rubino, who worked for the hospital for 26 years, was arrested by Investigator John Rodriguez of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
She was arraigned before Justice Ralph Mackin in North Salem Town Court and was sent to the Westchester County jail on $50,000 bail.
Rubino is scheduled to appear Monday, April 30, in Lewisboro Town Court.
Source:The Daily
Red Bluff woman arrested for sex with teen www.privateofficer.com
The 16-year-old victim reported to Red Bluff police school resource officer Aaron Murray Tuesday that he had been in a sexual relationship with Michelle Lynn Raschke.
She was arrested Wednesday at her residence in the 1600 block of Carmel Way.
The sexual relationship reportedly began March 2 at Raschke’s residence, according to a police press release. Raschke met the victim through a mutual friend and hired him for yard work and babysitting jobs before things turned sexual.
The victim and Raschke reportedly had sexual relations numerous times in the past two months, the release said.
Raschke was charged with committing lewd and lascivious acts with a child.
Bail was set at $25,000.
source-chicoer.com
NM street evangelists, ACLU sue police for violation of civil rights www.privateofficer.com
Now, after eight arrests between them in 17 months, they know all about jail, confrontations with police, the cost of bondsmen and lawyers, and the stress of life in courtrooms.
Their crimes, as alleged by Roswell police, included wrongful use of public sidewalks, disorderly conduct and obstructing officers.
Each arrest occurred because the brothers proselytized about their religion — sometimes loudly — in public places.
All eight cases against them eventually were dismissed by government prosecutors or thrown out by judges, though one initially led to a conviction in municipal court, where a non-attorney presided.
Because they have been arrested so often, the brothers say their finances have been depleted to the point that cannot risk any more trouble.
“We don’t have the money to be bailing out. We shouldn’t have to live in fear of using free speech, but in Roswell, unfortunately, we do,” said Joshua De Los Santos, 25.
Police have arrested him twice for street preaching. His brother Jeremy, 32, has been arrested six times.
This month, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico entered the confrontation. It sued the city of Roswell and nine of its police officers on grounds that they violated the brothers’ right of free speech.
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for the brothers.
Police Chief Al Solis referred questions about the case to city manager Larry Fry. Fry said he could not comment on a pending lawsuit.
The brothers say some of Roswell’s powerful political figures were present for one of their arrests.
On July 1 of last year, the brothers headed to Main Street, where a UFO festival was under way in a museum. The mayor, city manager and a city council member were at the event.
On the street outside, the brothers began to preach. Police moved in. Joshua De Los Santos said he tried to videotape the confrontation, but a police officer took his camera.
Officers told the brothers they had to stay in an area apart from the public gathering. They did not back away, so police arrested them.
Taken to jail and booked, the brothers were scheduled to stand trial for criminal trespass, obstructing an officer and wrongful use of public property.
Roswell’s city attorney later dropped the charges. By then the brothers had spent money for bail and lawyers.
“The police have done a good job of silencing us and taking away our rights,” Joshua De Los Santos said.
Another time, police arrested Joshua De Los Santos outside a rap concert. He said he intended to preach against the explicit lyrics.
By his account, police jailed him, even though he was on a public sidewalk that had not been leased to the concert promoter.
In a third case, Jeremy De Los Santos said police arrested him for preaching in a public area outside Old Paths Baptist Church, where his brother is the pastor and he is a religious instructor.
On the trip to jail, Jeremy De Los Santos said, police put him in the back of a car that had been sprayed with mace or another chemical agent. He claims battery, false arrest and false imprisonment in that case.
The brothers say they are the main targets of Roswell police but not the only ones.
Eleven other arrests for street preaching have been made involving members of Old Paths Baptist Church. Prosecutors dismissed all those charges, too.
Drained financially, the street preachers since “have laid low,” Joshua De Los Santos said.
He admits to a troubled past, but says he turned to religion and became a law-abiding citizen in 2005.
That was the year he pleaded no contest to a fourth-degree felony, shooting at or from a vehicle. He served six months in jail.
Prosecutors dropped a series of other charges, including aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a handgun by someone under 19.
Joshua De Los Santos said the crime was a turning point for him. He embraced the gospel. He said it put him on the path of being a law-abiding citizen committed to helping others.
The state restored his right to vote after he served his sentence. At the same time, he claims, police have trampled his right of free speech.
Jeremy De Los Santos works as a butcher in a meat market. But like his brother, he said, he believes he should spread the word of God on the streets of his city.
In their lawsuit, the brothers say Jesus Christ inspired them. He took his message to “open air,” where he spoke plainly to the common man.
Jeremy De Los Santos said he believed the arrests were personal, even part of a vendetta by those with power.
Not all police officers are at fault, he said. On some occasions, when people complained about his preaching in public places, police arrived and decided he simply was exercising his constitutional rights. They left him alone.
“Some officers believe in the Constitution,” he said.
But other times, the brothers say, police would size them up as they preached, phone the city attorney’s staff for advice, then arrest them on charges that were sure to be dismissed later.
In their lawsuit, the De Los Santos brothers argue that this is a textbook case. They say public expression of ideas cannot be prohibited merely because those ideas offend some of the listeners.
Source:tnmnp.com
KS shoplifting laws sending repeat offenders straight to prison www.privateofficer.com
Wichita KS April 30 2012 For one shoplifter, stealing a utility knife with a $1.59 price tag tipped sentencing so he received a prison term measured in years — not months as he had been on his 18 prior thefts and shoplifting convictions.
Latiseia Stano was sentenced to 57 months and placed on probation, but that was revoked when he violated probation, according to court records.
Convicted shoplifters who earlier were placed on probation or short jail sentences are facing years in state prison based on beefed-up state statutes used by the Shawnee County District Attorney’s office.
Prosecutors use the aggravated burglary statute plus a new state statute that transforms multiple shoplifting convictions to a felony. That equals prison terms.
Anyone who commits three shopliftings, which equals a felony, is a super shoplifter or serial shoplifter, District Attorney Chad Taylor said.
The district attorney’s office has used the statutes to prosecute shoplifters 75 times.
“Purpose of the program is that our business partners in the community were sick and tired of being stolen blind,” Taylor said.
The district attorney’s office released a list of 12 super shoplifters, including Mark E. Lucas, 42, of Topeka, who is serving 11 years and six months for shoplifting-related cases and faces yet another case.
THE PROSECUTIONS
Here is how the prosecutions work.
Of the two offenses prosecutors use, the more serious crime is aggravated burglary. When someone shoplifts from a store, the store often bans him or her from returning. The ban extends to all stores in a commercial chain and doesn’t have a time limit.
If the offender re-enters the store, that triggers the elements of an aggravated burglary, senior assistant district attorney Matt Patterson said.
Those elements are entering an occupied business without authority with the intent to steal something, according to Kansas law.
An aggravated burglary is a person felony on the Kansas sentencing grid. The grid combines the number of a defendant’s past convictions with the crime’s severity to determine the prison sentence.
Convictions for person felonies rapidly move an offender up the sentencing grid into heavier sentences.
For instance, someone without a criminal history or only one misdemeanor conviction has a criminal history I. Someone with one person felony has a criminal history D, which carries a minimum sentence of 50 months. Two person felonies is a B criminal history with 114 months, and someone with three person felonies has a criminal history A with 122 months.
Put another way, the number of person felonies “dramatically” increases the prison sentence, Patterson said.
The second crime is theft with two prior convictions.
According to a Kansas statute, a shoplifter earlier convicted of two misdemeanor shopliftings faces prosecution of felony theft if he or she commits a third shoplifting.
A first-time shoplifter normally would be sentenced to 12 months of probation and carries a maximum sentence of one year.
David McDonald, Lucas’ attorney, said the penalties are too severe.
“I think it has gone too far,” McDonald said, adding that entering an occupied home, another type of aggravated burglary, isn’t the same as a shoplifting.
“The penalty doesn’t mix with the actual harm done,” McDonald said.
MARK LUCAS
Lucas’ addiction to crack cocaine fuels his stealing to get cash to buy crack, Lucas has said a number of times in court.
The scenario is that Lucas drinks a few beers, he gets drunk, he wants to buy crack, he steals a DVD player, and he buys crack, McDonald said.
“I take full responsibility for these crimes,” Lucas told Shawnee County District Court Judge Mark Braun before he was sentenced. “I’ve been an addict for 23 years,” adding he never committed a crime while he was sober.
Lucas’ shoplifting combined with aggravated burglaries boosted him to a criminal history A, and he was sentenced March 7 to 10 years and two months for aggravated burglary.
In district court on Wednesday, assistant district attorney Jessica Domme said Lucas had 33 convictions on his criminal history.
Besides shoplifting-related offenses, the crimes include interference with a city officer, misdemeanor battery, drunk driving, driving on a suspended license, and felony obstruction of an officer.
“He is one of those people we call a super shoplifter who hasn’t stopped,” Domme said in court.
Domme recommended Lucas receive two 16-month sentences for two more theft convictions. McDonald recommended concurrent sentences.
“Walmart will be safe from my client for at least 10 years,” McDonald said. The judge added 16 months to the sentence of 10 years and two months.
Lucas next will appear in court on May 8 on pending charges of aggravated burglary and theft with two prior convictions.
