gringo pistolero wrote:The fed overreaction is ridiculous but so is offering to pay after you get caught stealing.
The person re-filling his soda was a construction worker at this facility so he may have thought that re-fills were free just like many fast food restaurants.
Maybe. Or maybe this wasn't the first time he refilled without paying after being warned, and he only offered to pay when the management enforced the rule. The story doesn't say either way.
Perhaps. If refills weren't standard policy at a lot of fast food places, I agree that it might be a blatant attempt to take something without paying. But it could have easily been an honest mis-understanding and offering to pay an extra $.89 seems like a reasonable response. If there were a sign or some other evidence of a no-refill policy, that would make the situation more clear.
This is the same Federal government who condones and promotes WIC and Medicare payments to citizens of other countries, allows millions of dollars in bogus tax refunds to flow to crooks and looks the other way while Federal employees pilfer money by the $100,000s through fraudulent and inflated expense accounts. The weight of the Federal response needs to fall on real BGs, not someone who got an extra 10oz of soda.
gringo pistolero wrote:Good point. The story says he was "told not to return to the property" so I wonder if that covers the entire VA property including the construction site or only the cafeteria.
According to the story I read it was the entire property. The guy will lose his job since he can't go on the construction site. I also read that when confronted he was pretty worked up and antagonistic. I wasn't there but I wonder if his offer to pay and conciliatory offer didn't come after being a bit of a pain and then realizing that the LE was serious and there were real consequences. We all know people who figure "To heck with them, what are they going to due arrest me?" Then when they are called on their bull have all the excuses in the world why it's ok. I figure he could miss a sign once or twice but the story says the guy had gotten refills multiple times so I bet he knew he should -pay and was just trying to get over.
gringo pistolero wrote:Good point. The story says he was "told not to return to the property" so I wonder if that covers the entire VA property including the construction site or only the cafeteria.
According to the story I read it was the entire property. The guy will lose his job since he can't go on the construction site. I also read that when confronted he was pretty worked up and antagonistic. I wasn't there but I wonder if his offer to pay and conciliatory offer didn't come after being a bit of a pain and then realizing that the LE was serious and there were real consequences. We all know people who figure "To heck with them, what are they going to due arrest me?" Then when they are called on their bull have all the excuses in the world why it's ok. I figure he could miss a sign once or twice but the story says the guy had gotten refills multiple times so I bet he knew he should -pay and was just trying to get over.
I didn't read anything about that. All of the stories I have read pretty much repeated the same thing.
gringo pistolero wrote:Good point. The story says he was "told not to return to the property" so I wonder if that covers the entire VA property including the construction site or only the cafeteria.
According to the story I read it was the entire property. The guy will lose his job since he can't go on the construction site. I also read that when confronted he was pretty worked up and antagonistic. I wasn't there but I wonder if his offer to pay and conciliatory offer didn't come after being a bit of a pain and then realizing that the LE was serious and there were real consequences. We all know people who figure "To heck with them, what are they going to due arrest me?" Then when they are called on their bull have all the excuses in the world why it's ok. I figure he could miss a sign once or twice but the story says the guy had gotten refills multiple times so I bet he knew he should -pay and was just trying to get over.
I didn't read anything about that. All of the stories I have read pretty much repeated the same thing.
Sorry this story is allover the net so I'm not sure where I heard it but I am sure that in every story they have the guy admitting he had gotten refills before.
gringo pistolero wrote:Good point. The story says he was "told not to return to the property" so I wonder if that covers the entire VA property including the construction site or only the cafeteria.
According to the story I read it was the entire property. The guy will lose his job since he can't go on the construction site. I also read that when confronted he was pretty worked up and antagonistic. I wasn't there but I wonder if his offer to pay and conciliatory offer didn't come after being a bit of a pain and then realizing that the LE was serious and there were real consequences. We all know people who figure "To heck with them, what are they going to due arrest me?" Then when they are called on their bull have all the excuses in the world why it's ok. I figure he could miss a sign once or twice but the story says the guy had gotten refills multiple times so I bet he knew he should -pay and was just trying to get over.
I didn't read anything about that. All of the stories I have read pretty much repeated the same thing.
Sorry this story is allover the net so I'm not sure where I heard it but I am sure that in every story they have the guy admitting he had gotten refills before.
Wow, as it happens, I work next door to that VA at the Medical University of South Carolina. How am I finding out about this here?
PS, I've never paid for my refills
“He looked like an accountant or a serial-killer type. Definitely one of the service industries.”
― Kinky Friedman, Elvis, Jesus, and Coca-Cola http://atomicnumber13.blogspot.com/
...He says he was taken to a room, given the $525 ticket for shoplifting and told not to return to the property.
"I'm done there, at the VA hospital. I'm not allowed to go on the premises anymore. I asked him can I still work on the job site and just bring my lunch and not got to the cafeteria and he said he wanted me off the premises."
A hospital spokesperson says it was her understanding that Lewis was aggressive during the confrontation.
The medical center originally released the following statement on Wednesday:
...
Texas Man Sentenced To 16-Years For Theft Of 'Snickers' Candy Bar
by Diane Jennings
Texas' reputation as a law-and-order state is receiving worldwide attention after a Tyler jury sentenced a man to 16 years in prison for shoplifting a $1 candy bar.
Calls from around the world have flooded the Smith County district attorney's office and the state district court after Kenneth Payne, 29, was sentenced to hard time for the theft of a Snickers from a Tyler grocery on Dec. 17.
"It was a king size," Smith County assistant district attorney Jodi Brown said after the jury returned its sentencing recommendation, The Associated Press reported.
That comment, by a prosecutor handling her first felony, has left the Smith County district attorney's office scrambling to explain but refusing to apologize for the decision to prosecute Mr. Payne as a habitual offender.
In London a few years back the head of neurosurgery at London's largest hospital was accused of taking two desserts. He said he only came back to get the dessert he forgot at the hospital cafeteria. It was reported to hospital management, and he was put on suspension for a week for the violation.
He spent the week gardening.
Since in England there is a shortage of people who are neurosurgeons and there is a long waiting list. It was a death sentence for many people on his list for surgery.
Texas Man Sentenced To 16-Years For Theft Of 'Snickers' Candy Bar
by Diane Jennings
Texas' reputation as a law-and-order state is receiving worldwide attention after a Tyler jury sentenced a man to 16 years in prison for shoplifting a $1 candy bar.
Calls from around the world have flooded the Smith County district attorney's office and the state district court after Kenneth Payne, 29, was sentenced to hard time for the theft of a Snickers from a Tyler grocery on Dec. 17.
"It was a king size," Smith County assistant district attorney Jodi Brown said after the jury returned its sentencing recommendation, The Associated Press reported.
That comment, by a prosecutor handling her first felony, has left the Smith County district attorney's office scrambling to explain but refusing to apologize for the decision to prosecute Mr. Payne as a habitual offender.
The defendant appealed and won a new trial. He was then sentenced to two years in prison. He appealed the two year sentence and lost.
Reading this thread and other threads, it amazes me how quick many members are to assign nefarious motives to the people in the story. When it comes to the refill, maybe Hanlon's razor should apply.
I Thess 5:21
Disclaimer: IANAL, IANYL, IDNPOOTV, IDNSIAHIE and IANROFL
"There is no situation so bad that you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield, NASA ISS Astronaut
Dragonfighter wrote:Reading this thread and other threads, it amazes me how quick many members are to assign nefarious motives to the people in the story. When it comes to the refill, maybe Hanlon's razor should apply.
I have a theory. He was a construction worker. During his morning work, he got hungry and very thirsty so at lunch he got a refill of his drink.
For pete's sakes. It was an .89 cent refill. We have lost our minds if we are saying anything other than a simple restitution is in order. I'll even be generous to the people at the shop and say he should pay them back 10 fold for what he took. There.....they can have $8.90.
These petty little stupid things that can be taken care of so easily, but are being handled as if it was a high crime or a misdemeanor. That is why people like me (born with a shred of common sense) lose faith in our system of justice and why when somone says "rule of law" I roll my eyes now.
Two years in jail or a 500+ for an .89 drink. We sure stopped a serious criminal there!
SAHM to four precious children. Wife to a loving husband.
"The women of this country learned long ago those without swords can still die upon them!" Eowyn in LOTR Two Towers
I read that he could have been fined a few hundred hundred dollar fine for petty theft but didn't actually have to pay anything. If the trespass warning stays in effect, that sounds like a fair compromise. He won't be forced to pay for refills anymore and the construction foreman can hire another worker whose honor is worth more than a dollar.
