Man who stole from thrift store gets probation
The man who stole items from the donation storage area of a nonprofit thrift store earlier this year avoided going to prison Tuesday morning during his sentencing hearing in Yuma County Superior Court.
Jaime Rodriguez, 22, pleaded guilty to an amended count of attempted theft in September, which carried a presumptive prison sentence of one year. He instead was given 36 months of supervised probation.
Superior Court Judge Roger Nelson, who presided over the case, also ordered that Rodriguez pay $1,274 in restitution to Amberly’s Place. Rodriguez was represented by attorney Robert Trebilcock of the Yuma County Public Defenders Office.
He also told Rodriguez, who has been in custody since mid June, that he was going to be released from jail later in the day and that he needed to go directly to the Yuma County probation office to discuss the terms and conditions of his probation.
According to Yuma police, the thefts occurred over a two-day period between May 31 and June 1 at the Amberly’s Place Thrift Shoppe at 812 S. Avenue A.
The suspects were caught on surveillance cameras taking various donated items out of crates kept in the agency’s storage area, which is on the side of the building and enclosed by a locked fence.
Rodriguez was one of two suspects sought and eventually arrested on June 13 in the 1300 block of Colorado Street and later booked into the Yuma County jail on three counts of burglary and three counts of theft.
According to Amberly’s Place, the thieves stole well over $1,000 worth of merchandise. The second suspect is still being sought.
Amberly’s Place is the only family advocacy center in Yuma with a crisis team to assist victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault and elder abuse.
The thrift store is one of the ways Amberly’s Place raises money to help abuse victims with expenses not covered by grants and other funding it receives. James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 5396854. Find him on Facebook at www. Facebook.com/YSJamesGilbert or on Twitter @YSJamesGilbert.