La Plata, MD – A man who stole two all-terrain vehicles and advertised them on Craig’s List was sentenced in Charles County Circuit Court Wednesday, July 8 in La Plata.
Zebedee Alexander Johnson, 25 of Clinton, pled guilty to count two, theft of between $1,000 and $10,000.
Johnson was charged last November and was facing a maximum sentence of 10 years and a $10,000 fine.
“Under the state’s agreement you would face no active jail time,” Judge Amy J. Bragunier told Johnson.
Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Constance Kopelman said that a Waldorf homeowner came home to find his barn was broken into and two all-terrain vehicles were stolen. The next day an investigator for the Charles County Sheriff’s Office found one of the stolen ATVs advertised for sale on Craig’s List.
She said the defendant had prior charges of fleeing and eluding police and a disorderly conduct charge from 2014 in New York.
“He is also facing forgery charges in Virginia,” Kopelman stated.
“My client has paid all of the restitution in this case,” said defense attorney Keith Showstack. “No other individual was charged in this case.”
Showstack said restitution was more than $6,000.
Bragunier sentenced Johnson to 10 years, suspending all of that sentence and adding five years of supervised probation.
“I will be willing to reconsider changing that to unsupervised probation after two years,” she said. “Since you made a good faith effort in paying restitution, I’m going to suspend the supervisory fee.”
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com