Fifteen days for thrift store clothing theft
By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on January 25, 2023.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com Trying to flee from police after stealing clothes from a city store didn’t work out too well for Jocko Slade Trotter.The 35-year-old man and a woman were caught shoplifting last November from Value Village on Mayor Magrath Drive South, where Trotter was seen shedding layers of his own clothing and putting on clothing from the store.
The shoplifters took a significant amount of time concealing the clothing, but before they could be apprehended, employees had to respond to an unrelated incident which required police attendance. In the meantime, Trotter and the woman left the store without paying for two jackets and a pair of boots worth about $130.
An employee pointed out the two suspects as they walked through the parking lot and crossed 19 Avenue South, and when a police officer approached them near Mayor Magrath Drive and said they were under arrest, Trotter took off.
“The female froze while the male stepped into traffic,” Crown Prosecutor Kristi Adams said Tuesday in Lethbridge provincial court, where Trotter pleaded guilty to charges of theft under $5,000 and resisting a peace officer.
Despite repeatedly being told to stop, Trotter ran into traffic then into a nearby parking lot. Additional officers and a police dog joined the chase, but it was called off after the suspect jumped a fence into a residential area and police were called to another incident.
Trotter, who has a criminal record with convictions for similar offences, was sentenced to 15 days in jail, but given credit for the equivalent of 15 days he had already spent in remand custody, which completes his sentence but doesn’t allow him to go free.
He remains in custody on additional charges of housebreaking with intent to commit an indictable offence, drug possession, possession of break-in tools, resisting a peace officer, possession of stolen property under and over $5,000, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and break and enter.
He returns to court on those matters Jan. 30. Follow @DShurtzHerald on Twitter 4
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