‘Cemetery thief’ to serve 16 years

Florida man belonged to gang that targeted Houston, Dallas mourners

Barbara Jackson was laying flowers on her mother’s grave in 2014 when her purse was stolen from her van.

On Friday, the 70-yearold leaned on a cane as she walked into court to face the ringleader of a gang of thieves who targeted thousands of unattended vehicles in cemeteries from Florida to Houston.

“I just think it’s ghoulish for anybody to do something like that,” she told the defendant, 28-year-old Carl Johnson. “Somebody who does something like that has no conscience.”

Her testimony, along with that of other victims in the case, led visiting state District Judge Terry Flenniken to sentence Johnson to 16 years in prison for stealing purses and wallets out of unlocked cars from mourners in area cemeteries. He had been facing up to life in prison.

“All identity theft cases are horrible, but this is certainly the most horrible that I’ve encountered,” said

Assistant Harris County District Attorney Chris Handley. “The fact that they picked cemeteries was just criminally evil.”

He said the gang targeted areas where people often leave their cars unlocked because they are still within sight. The group would pull up next to an unattended car for just seconds to check the door, take what they could and flee, he said.

They broke into thousands of cars at cemeteries and at day care centers, Handley said. They were able to clear $30,000$40,000 a week in ill-gotten gains, he said.

The gang apparently hit cemeteries all over Houston before getting caught. A map of all of the crime scenes would ring the city like Beltway 8, Handley said.

In court, he said the gang came to Texas — first Dallas then Houston — after police in Florida started investigating them.

Several witnesses testified Friday that probation was not appropriate.

The gang was able to steal more than $8,000 from Jackson before her accounts were blocked.

She broke down on the witness stand as she described the graveyard theft. But it wasn’t the money she lost or the headaches of identity theft that brought her to tears.

It was the stolen phone that had photos of her late mother.

“I have no pictures of her, the last year of her life,” she cried. “It just breaks your heart.”

Prosecutors charged Johnson, who is from Miramar, Fla., with engaging in organized crime. Investigators from Florida, Dallas and Texas pieced together a massive identity theft case crisscrossing the Gulf Coast for more than two years. Johnson pleaded guilty earlier this year and threw himself on the mercy of the court.

Before handing down the sentence, the judge chastised Johnson for taking a criminal path despite being “bright and articulate.”

The judge also said he was considering the emotional trauma of victims who had their lives upended and their memories stolen.

Johnson will have to serve at least eight years before being eligible for parole and was the last member of the gang to be sentenced. Four other people have been convicted in the scheme.

Defense attorney Tara Long had argued for probation and said Johnson admitted responsibility and had shown remorse.

“I just think it’s ghoulish for anybody to do something like that. Somebody who does something like that has no conscience.” Barbara Jackson, identity theft victim