Everyone is looking for a good deal to finish off the holiday season. A pair of thieves argued that they should receive lesser charges because the items they stole from a Kohl’s store in Colorado were on sale.
The district attorney’s office for Colorado’s Judicial District 18 said in a statement that the men’s defense attorneys told a jury that they believed that their clients should face lesser charges because some of the items they stole were on sale at the time.
Michael Green and Byron Bolden were convicted of felony theft instead of the lesser misdemanor charge for stealing a KitchenAid stand mixer on sale for $350. At Kohl’s the original price for one KitchenAid stand mixer is usually $499 but since it was on sale, the “KitchenAid Mixer Crew” believed they should also get a discount on their sentence.
Along with the mixer, the pair also stole brand-name shoes and clothing, bringing the documented value of stolen items to $2,095. Under Colorado law, theft between $2,000 to $5,000 is a Class A felony, while theft under $2,000 is a misdemeanor, which is the charge that Green and Bolden’s attorneys are arguing for.
“Retail theft is not a victimless crime,” Deputy DA Sherri Giger said in the statement, citing store closures and price increases to customers as consequences, “Many stores no longer try to confront or stop retail thieves due to the risk of potential harm to employees and customers from thieves who may be armed.”
The DA’s office ultimately sentenced 50-year-old Green to 15 months in prison and 37-year-old Bolden to 90 days in jail for their crime spree.
Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/thieves-kohls-lesser-charge-on-sale-kitchenaid-mixer/