Police arrested an unhoused man in Pennsylvania, charging him with a felony for reportedly shorting a convenience store by 43 cents on a bottle of soda.
Joseph Sobolewski picked up a 20-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew last month while making a pitstop at an Exxon station in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, outside Harrisburg. The sign on the refrigerated shelf read: “2 for $3.” On the way out, he left $2 on the counter for the cashier.
But Sobolewski didn’t read the fine print, which stipulated that a single item sold at its regular price — $2.29. Add the 14 cents of sales tax, and he was 43 cents short.
A store employee called 911 to report the robbery, and Pennsylvania State Police tracked Sobolewski down. The department charged him with a felony and put him in jail on a $50,000 cash-only bond, PennLive reported.
Because 38-year-old Sobolewski has several prior convictions, his 43-cent “theft” carries more severe penalties. The state of Pennsylvania maintains a three-strike policy. Sobolewski has two nonviolent theft convictions that are several years old, The Washington Post said. A spokeswoman for state police told the newspaper that the state automatically charges a person with two prior retail theft convictions with a felony on their third offense, regardless of the amount.
“Troopers cannot decide to not charge someone for a criminal case, only victims of certain crimes can decline charges. If we are called to an incident involving a crime we follow and enforce the PA Crimes Code,” Trooper Megan Ammerman explained.
Critics want the state to change the law, pointing to its lack of prudence in charging based on an item’s value.
“This is literally a matter of cents, resulting in not only criminalizing an individual but costing taxpayers money to house him,” Brandon J. Flood, secretary of the state’s Board of Pardons, told The Post. “We’re still grappling with a global pandemic and we have to be better fiscal stewards across the board, and this is the complete antithesis of that. We shouldn’t be seeing these kinds of cases.”
Because of a similar three-strike law in California enacted in the 1990s, a woman recently completed a 27-year sentence for stealing a VCR. When she was sentenced, the Three Strikes law mandated a minimum of 25 years behind bars. The court sentenced her to 40 years to life, said WaPo.
If convicted, Sobolewski could spend from three to seven years in prison. His $50,000 bond is now “unsecured,” allowing him to be released without paying cash. An arraignment is scheduled in early October.
Flood hopes Sobolewski’s case helps reignite the push to change the law in legislative sessions. Past attempts have fallen flat.
“This law is crafted because it’s meant to serve as a deterrent, and I don’t think it has served its purpose,” Flood told The Post. “This is low-hanging fruit.”
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