| Yolo County Man Faces Third Strike For Stealing Cheese |
| Written by David Greenwald |
| Monday, 08 February 2010 05:17 |
 A Yolo County Man, Robert Ferguson is facing life in prison for a third strike in part for stealing cheese from Nugget Market. Prior to that he was convicted for petty theft at a 7/11 for stealing a woman's wallet. Sentencing will occur on March 1 to see if indeed he is given his third strike in which he would spend 25 years in prison, essentially a life sentence for a man in his mid 50s.Mr. Ferguson was previously convicted back in 1982 for three separate counts of residential burglary, at the time he was age 25 years old. Six years later he pled guilty to a single count of 1st degree burglary. Finally in 1995, he pled guilty to a single count of petty theft with a prior.
According to the District Attorney's office Mr. Ferguson is a candidate for using the three strikes law due in part to the five part test. The parts are, nature and circumstances of current offense, nature and circumstances of prior strikes, defendant's background, defendant's character, and defendant's prospect.
The prosecution argued he was eligible for a third strike based on his background and prospect. First, they argued that he is unemployed and unmarried. He is a repeat offender and made no claims to education or job skills. Furthermore he is taking no responsibility for a substance abuse process. Additionally, he has been in custody for 22 years, six months, and six days in the last 27 years. They argued, "defendant cannot function as a productive citizen in society." Moreover, "[Mr. Ferguson] made no effort whatsoever to becoming a law-abiding citizen." Those arguments notwithstanding, both incidents in December of 2008 that led to the third strike On December 4, 2008, Woodland Police Officer Scot Todd responded to a convenience store at 122 E. Main Street. The victim, a woman, was distracted when her son was making a mess and Mr. Ferguson had handed her a napkin. She left the store but came back when she discovered her wallet missing. Officer Todd spoke to the victim who stated that she had placed her wallet on the counter and when she turned her attention back to the counter her wallet was allegedly missing. Upon reviewing the surveillance tape from the location, Officer Todd allegedly saw an individual standing near the woman at the time her wallet allegedly disappeared. Officer Scott in testimony described the video, “Mr. Ferguson then turned towards the camera, and all you see is a slight—where he’s pulling his pants out and shoving an unknown object down his pants.” There were other camera angles and pictures too used in the exhibit. Then there was a photo lineup conducted where the woman correctly identified Mr. Ferguson. Surveillance depicts individual as Ferguson placed something inside of the front of his pants. According to Officer Todd, "the surveillance tape does not depict the item that the individual allegedly identification as Mr. Ferguson placed inside the front of his pants. Police report does not obtain monetary value for the wallet." Yet, the DA has chosen to proceed with a pretty theft charge, even though the wallet was less than $400. Ten days later, Mr. Ferguson was involved in another minor incident. According to the report of Officer Jameson of the Woodland PD on Dec. 14, 2008, Officer Jameson responded to a grocery store located at 157 Main St. Upon arrival, he made contact with the Loss Prevention Officer from Nugget Market in Woodland. The man allegedly saw an individual placed $3.99 worth of shredded cheese into his pants and leave the store rendering proper payment. Mr. Ferguson was subsequently detained by Mr. Austin . At the time of Mr. Ferguson’s arrest, he possessed $9.00, and would have been able to pay for the cheese he allegedly stole. Oddly enough he paid for everyone else except for the cheese that was in his pants. When confronted by the Loss Prevention Officer, Ferguson attempted to flee and then was taken down to the ground. The Nugget Market worker described Ferguson as “embarrassed and remorseful.” The cheese had only cost 3.99, and he had 9.00 dollars on him. Mr. Ferguson has been battling mental illness for a number of years. He is attempting to control the ill-effects of this mental disorder. His mental disorder is responsible for this mania, depression, and mood instability. Because of his mental disorder problems he has come to a substance abuse problem, which is apparently under control. The prosecution describes him as a man that has refused to accept responsibility, that cannot be a productive citizen, and that remains a serious threat to society. Given his long history that includes long breaks during which he was in custody, the DA has the discretion as to whether or not to charge the cases as felonies which would count as strikes or misdemeanors. History suggests it might be reasonable to charge as a felony with prison time. However, the fact that his crimes are becoming less violent and serious, now committing petty thefts from businesses and wallets (a theft of opportunity) rather than residential burglaries mitigates the case and lends itself to the belief that he should not receive life for the felony even if it is concluded that it is a felony. Sentencing will occur on March 1, at which point more details of the case may emerge. ---David M. Greenwald reporting Vivian Nguyen contributed to this story
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Comments (36)
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wdf1:
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Theft under $400 is petty theft. I'm sure that the mother he stole from didn't think it was petty.
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It would make a lot more sense if we could outsource incarceration to someplace with a much lower cost like Nevada or Mexico. This would also stem the tide of early release of prisoners, just get the cost down to as little as possible and leave them there for full terms.
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I don't really mind the cost of him being in prison- it is either that or the sum of all the "petty thefts" he makes from shopkeepers, homeowners etc. which is a direct loss to the individuals he steals from. Jail has its place, and his place is in it.
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So, as the Supreme Court has just confirmed, corporations are persons and have the same rights, even to a fair trial. These corporate persons are repeatedly caught in crimes against the people's right to a clean, uncontaminated environment and health, yet repeatedly "they" only pay fines for poisoning our air, water and land and are never subject to the "Three Strikes Rule."
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He hasn't been sentenced yet. Maybe the threat of a life time in prison will prompt him to get the help he needs. Nothing else has appeared to bring enough pressure to bear. This kind of criminal needs blunt talk about the effects of his repeated crimes on others. He probably commits these crimes (petty theft) all the time. He just got caught this time.
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I've got an idea, if he knew he already had two strikes maybe he shouldn't have stole again.
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rusty49..if he is mentally unstabil, he probably doesn't reason that well.
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Here is some more info
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Assuming mental illness is a big part of this man's problems, then his life story is yet another reminder of what is wrong with our mental health laws, which do not allow for mandatory treatment unless the person is deemed to be an immediate threat to himself or someone else. His life, his family member's lives, and his victims lives have been hurt by such laws, and they desperately need revision.
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If someone walked into my store and asked for food because he or she were hungry I would feed them. For that matter, when they left my store they would even have money in their pocket. However for shoplifting, public floggings should be brought back. If they continue to shoplift, it should be left up to the discretion of the store owner as to what the punishment should be...
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Hmmm. I think we had public floggings in the good old USA...
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DG: "Mr. Ferguson has been battling mental illness for a number of years. He is attempting to control the ill-effects of this mental disorder. His mental disorder is responsible for this mania, depression, and mood instability. Because of his mental disorder problems he has come to a substance abuse problem, which is apparently under control."
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Another question we ought to be asking ourselves as Californians is why we have such long prison sentences at all?
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"What benefit is there to anyone (who is not cashing in on our system) for those extra 2 or 8 years? If he did not learn that crime doesn't pay after 3 years in prison, is he going to catch on in the next 3 years in the joint? "
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"Maybe we should should outsource part (the lifer part) of the prison system to low cost countries. Is Devil's Island vacant?"
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I think that a premise of the Three Strikes law is that prison is not a corrective after a certain level of recidivism has been demonstrated.
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This man sounds like he is mentally ill and has some kind of compulsive disorder like kleptomania. It is almost impossible to get mental health treatment in this area, so the system locks these people up and throws away the key. That way it makes job security for people who work in the criminal justice system. We are running backwards with alarming speed. Welcome to Gulag California. |
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