Mammoth Police arrested Richard Vernon Collins in recent days after they said they tracked down evidence and found him with a stolen laptop computer.
Sergeant Marc Moscowitz said that the Police Department received a report of a stolen lap top. He said the victim suspected a roommate who had moved in a few days prior to the theft.
Officers said the victim discovered some packaging from Rite-Aid. Police took the information into the store where a clerk had sold the suspect a tent. The clerk recognized the suspect and said he had the stolen computer with him.
A friend of the victim later reported seeing the stolen computer with the suspect in the outdoors area of Lakanuki. Police arrested him and returned the computer, which was worth around $1,000. Some money also stolen, between $40 and $60 in quarters, was also recovered.
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Any idea why Bishop High went on lock down today?
Bishop Police said last Thursday there was a planned lockdown drill at Bishop Elementary,
but nothing today. Do you have any more info?
BK
All the kids were told on the speaker they could not leave the class rooms for any reason right after lunch. I’m hearing this from a student.
Will check further.
BK
The guy is not some down and out kid – he is in his 50’s….the $ in question was the victims tip money
RU4REAL….And my bet would be it’s far from his first brush with the law…either that or someone that has stolen before,but just lucky not to have gotten caught before…question is…Which one is it ?
Yeah could be Wayne. If he deserves it, then he does .. but we all know how sometimes those that don’t deserve such harsh treatment get bagged really hard. More info is coming in though, through the blog .. LOL
thats alotta laundry money
Hey now … Trouble is just Trouble, LOL Trouble is just misunderstood.
Yeah ferdinand .. I was thinking the same thing about the laundry money.
ferdinand….not at our local laundromat it isn’t….
Of course the police guessed this laptop is worth 1000 dollars. The petty theft cut off is 950.00. You can buy a new Apple for 1200.00, so this must have been a hell of a laptop. Sorry but, stuff like this is why I always question authority.
Trouble,
Stealing is stealing and you just said it! A Macbook is at least $1200.00 which covers the $1000 threshold. Besides, who knows how much addition software could have been installed, how much work he may have on the system which can’t be measured in dollars, etc.
SierraFan- This kid could do years more in prison for this $ 50 guess . Look in the Reader and see how many thousand dollar used laptops you find. Besides this kid sounds like he was broke and homeless. I believe a full time job would do this kid more good than our helpful legal system.
I just purchased a Dell Latitude D610 Laptop 1.73GHz 60GB HDD WiFi XP off of Ebay for $96.01 plus $5 shipping.
And Sean lighten up what’s up with the STFU? There’s no call for that.
What’s wrong Trouble? Did you get too many tickets as a teenager? Every time there is a law enforcement related story you have to hate on it and the police. WTF do you know about this case, that specific laptop, or anything for that matter? STFU.
Sean- Your correct. I got a lot of tickets as a out of control teenager and made hundreds of mistakes in my life. But sticking up for the down and out isn’t one of them. And to your” WTF” comment, I grew up with and worked with these legal beagle people for over half my life . 99% of the time, the legal system is just a game of tag in my mind. With the wealthy and lawyers walking away smiling 99% of the time. P.S. since you want to get personal, I think our mother needs to wash your mouth out with soap.
The kid was wrong to steal the computer, so there are consequences for his actions he has to pay up on.
I get what trouble is getting at, the dollar amount determining his sentence as far as it being misdemeanor or felony. It is a fine line sometimes, and sometimes fate craps on you, as to whether you get the lesser or more of the sentence.
I don’t feel it is a felony offense in this case, you really have to over valuate the computer, even with the large amount of laundry money thrown in. You can say .. well there is this soft ware and that software, that might add a few dollars to the value of a … used computer, we all know how things tend to hold their or depreciate. Depreciation is more realistic.
Not knowing this man’s character, I would say give him some benefit with regard to how you can screw up his life, or not. The fact still remains, he stole, and he has to pay, but do we ram it to him with everything we can give?
Sometimes people in law enforcement really hammer down hard on people, and sometimes rightfully so, but then you might have someone such as this kid, who might have made a bad choice, and is not really a bad kid. We all have been there to some extent, but we grow out of it, hopefully this kid will, but if we slam him so hard, he might not.
I’m not saying he doesn’t have to face charges, he does! .. But do we need to go for such a heavy charge, when in fact .. it probably is just a misdemeanor?
Just saying.
It’s not over yet. He may still face a misdemeanor.
BK
This case is not over. He may face a lesser charge down the line.
BK
You’re right Trouble, a used laptop, worth $1000? Only if it was bought new yesterday. Afternoon.
The game here is obvious. Over-charge with the felony so you can offer an easy misdemeanor plea and hang another conviction on your belt. If you charge a misdemeanor in the first place, what would the defendant plea down to? Without being able to offer an easy escape hatch plea, the D.A. might actually have to go to court, impanel a jury, and persuade them that a possibly sympathetic kid should go to jail for stealing a used laptop that might turn out to be so old as to be almost worthless.
This is not defending stealing. It’s defending a sense of perspective. And for the Puritan wing of this blog, I’ve never been convicted of anything more serious than speeding and the last one was during the Clinton administration. So to use what is apparently regarded as a hip acronym, allow me to preemptively declare STFU.
Trouble…Many of us have been “down and out” in our lifetimes…..sometimes more than once….but that shouldn’t give a person the right…or a “get out of jail free”card for being a thief.I say slap him with a felony…teach him a lesson….maybe he’ll think twice before he steals from people again,cause if he gets some “slap on the wrist”,he won’t learn a thing.
Trouble, sometimes you can be such a horse’s ass!
real deal- I agree.
Good work helping keep the honest people honest, MLPD.