[CPProt.net] Theft leads to jail, $500 fine

[Museum Security Network / Cultural Property Protection Net (Ton Cremers)]

Theft leads to jail, $500 fine
By LILA FUJIMOTO, Staff Writer 
WAILUKU - The theft of glass artwork from a Wailea gallery last year led to
a jail term for a man and community service for a woman implicated in the
crime.

Randy Ross and Amy Snover, both 25, were captured on surveillance video June
26 as he took two pieces of artwork from a Dale Chihuly sculpture at
Elizabeth Doyle Gallery in The Shops at Wailea. Snover eventually admitted
acting as a lookout for her husband.

"They weren't stealing for any reason other than the thrill," Deputy
Prosecutor Kevin Jenkins said during the couple's sentencing hearing
Thursday.

He described the defendants as educated professionals who didn't take
necessities or steal to support a drug habit or children, as commonly occurs
in shoplifting cases.

"They do have a flaw, however, and that's greed," Jenkins said. "Pure and
simple, it's greed."

The glass pieces, taken on two days in June from the gallery, were recovered
from the couple's Kihei residence, where the artwork was displayed on a
wall, Jenkins said.

He said the couple took police to the home after being arrested in July.

Gallery co-owner Elizabeth LaCount, who had studied the surveillance video,
recognized Snover and Ross while shopping at a Kihei grocery store, Jenkins
said. LaCount followed the two to their car and obtained the license plate
number, which she turned over to police.

On July 26, LaCount was driving home when she saw the car on Piilani Highway
and followed it to Maui Memorial Medical Center, where Ross was seen getting
into the car driven by Snover, Jenkins said. He said LaCount called police,
who arrested the two.

Deputy Public Defender Adriel Menor asked for no jail time or a suspended
jail sentence for Ross, who works full time to support the family, including
a daughter born six months ago.

"That event, the birth of his daughter, is all the difference in the world
to him," Menor said. "He's indicated to me this will never happen again."

Second Circuit Judge Joel August referred to Ross' "pattern of conduct,
primarily involving property crimes" in saying he wasn't eligible for a
chance to keep the latest convictions off his record.

The judge imposed a 90-day jail term as part of five years' probation for
Ross, who had pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree theft. He
was also ordered to pay a $500 fine. Ross was allowed to serve the jail term
on consecutive weekends starting Friday evening.

Attorneys said Ross has prior convictions for forgery, theft and providing
liquor to a minor in Texas. While the crimes in Texas were misdemeanors, the
forgery and theft offenses would be felonies in Hawaii, Jenkins said.

In Snover's case, the judge cited her "good record" in giving her a chance
to keep a second-degree theft conviction off her record if she follows court
requirements for the next five years. She was ordered to perform 100 hours
of community service.

Defense attorney David Cain argued that Snover has no prior convictions and
deserved a chance to keep her record clean.

"This has been a tremendous experience in my life," Snover said in court
Thursday. "It's carried as much weight as the birth of my daughter, and the
fact that it's happening together is enormous."

Jenkins, who had argued against giving her a chance to clear her record,
said Snover at first denied any involvement in the theft to police. She
admitted her role in a letter to the court two days before she was
originally scheduled to be sentenced earlier this month, Jenkins said.

The state agreed to allow Ross and Snover to plead no contest to
second-degree theft instead of second-degree theft by shoplifting, which
would have required a minimum fine of four times the value of the stolen
property.

In the case of Ross, who was convicted of theft of all the artwork, the
minimum fine for felony shoplifting convictions would have been $78,000 to
$92,000, Jenkins said. He said the minimum fine for Snover, who was charged
for the theft on one of the two days, would have been about half.

The state made the plea agreement "because the state didn't see the point in
punishing the child," Jenkins said.

In an unrelated case, 2nd Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto ordered a
six-month jail term as part of five years' probation for Clinton Estrella.

The 19-year-old Wailuku resident had pleaded no contest to first-degree
burglary and second-degree theft for a break-in on Oct. 8 at a neighbor's
home on Piihana Road in Wailuku. Estrella was arrested after he was seen
trying to hide stolen items as he left the home.

Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto at mauinews.com.