Man Sentenced to 3 Months After Pleading Guilty to Grand Larceny from Walmart
NORFOLK, Va. — Kerry Antonio Boykins Jr., 35, was sentenced in November to serve three months in jail after he pleaded guilty to stealing high-end calculators from a Walmart store earlier this year.
On April 4, Mr. Boykins entered the Walmart on Tidewater Drive, and a Norfolk Sheriff’s Office deputy who was working there as a security officer recognized Mr. Boykins’s face from prior thefts. The officer watched as Mr. Boykins — who had walked in empty-handed — put items into shopping bags without paying for them, ignored the greeter who asked for his receipt, and walked out of the store. Once he was outside, Mr. Boykins started to run from the deputy and dropped the bags after he crossed Tidewater Drive. Police soon arrived to arrest Mr. Boykins, and the bags were recovered. The stolen merchandise was multiple calculators collectively worth more than $1800, and a criminal-record check showed that Mr. Boykins had been convicted of embezzlement and shoplifting in the past.
On Nov. 5, Mr. Boykins entered an agreement to plead guilty to felony grand larceny and serve three months in jail (which was at the midpoint of Mr. Boykins’s state sentencing guidelines) with three years and nine months in prison suspended on the conditions that he complete four years of uniform good behavior after his release and that he be banned from Walmart stores during that time. Judge David W. Lannetti accepted Mr. Boykins’s plea agreement and sentenced him according to the agreement.
“I have long had a policy in my office that, for thefts under $2,500, we should consider a misdemeanor or other alternative for people who seem to have made a one-time mistake out of desperation. It has also long been my policy that there are cases like Mr. Boykins’s, where Mr. Boykins has engaged in repeated and calculated acts of theft, and where we have an obligation to seek felony convictions and jail time,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “We have done so here. I hope that Mr. Boykins mends his ways and steals no more, but if he continues to do so in Norfolk, he will face continued consequences and jail time, just as other repeat shoplifters do. My office and I will continue to seek measured justice that recognizes the difference between mistakes and repeat behavior.”
Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Shavaughn N. Banks prosecuted Mr. Boykins’s case, and Norfolk Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Deschaine led the investigation.
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