Homeless Twix thief gets 180 days for swiping $2 in candy bars

[Baitball Blogger]

OCALA, Fla. (AP) -- A north Florida judge has sentenced a 21-year-old homeless man to 180 days in jail for stealing $2 worth of candy.

Delvis Rodriguez-Ramos -- already on probation for theft -- pleaded guilty Wednesday to taking Twix and Snickers bars from an Ocala store.

The Ocala Star-Banner reports an employee noticed the candy missing Saturday. Rodriguez-Ramos denied taking the candy, but returned to the store Monday and confessed.

snip

Rodriguez-Ramos told the Star-Banner he had not eaten in a few days and was hungry.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-08-30/news/os-homeless-man-jail-stolen-candy-20120830_1_homeless-man-homeless-shelter-candy

[elleng]

1. The law, in its majestic equality,

forbids the rich and the poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

Anatole France

[valerief]

27. +1000

[HopeHoops]

2. Yeah, I saw that. And the Wall Street crooks steal billions and get away with it.

Things are so fucked up there aren't even words like "fucked up" to describe it.

[Curtland1015]

3. Not only did they get away with it, they got BONUSES.

Meanwhile this poor guy had to choose between committing a small crime or starving to death.

[valerief]

28. He'll get to eat in prison. Hope he doesn't get legitimately beaten up or raped. nt

[1monster]

29. Since the sentence is under a year and a day, he will spend his time in a county jail.

County jails are generally much better places than prisons in Florida.

Perhaps, I hope, some one or organization will help this man to transition into a home, a job, and whatever help he needs to go on when he gets out.

[valerief]

34. That's better. The poor thing is so young, too. nt

[Alduin]

4. I'm glad Florida is taking the dangerous criminals off the streets.

Makes me feel proud to be an American.

[Junkdrawer]

5. "but returned to the store Monday and confessed."

One hell of a way to get 3 squares.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. He knew he could count on the justice system.

[gollygee]

22. And now everyone has been warned not to do that

People are stupid.

[lunatica]

7. Now he'll get three square meals a day for 6 months

[slackmaster]

8. Those things are pure poison, mostly refined sugar and other crap

Rodriguez-Ramos told the Star-Banner he had not eaten in a few days and was hungry.

At least the guy will get better nutrition in jail.

[Care Acutely]

9. He'll probably be turned out before that. 180 days of eating real food

would be an upside, but what a stupid, stupid, grossly inefficient way of feeding a hungry person. God forbid we give him a "handout" by housing and feeding him at about a thousand a month. No - let's lock him up at a cost of several thousand dollars a day, because that makes sense.

[HiPointDem]

10. so fucking depressing. he returned and confessed (why, for god's sake) & still got SIX MONTHS

IN JAIL FOR STEALING CANDY BARS.

Maybe he thought at least they'd feed him in jail.

I hate what my country is becoming.

[HooptieWagon]

11. A similar situation, another Florida Judge:

A friend of mine is a Hillsborough County ( Tampa) judge in family court. Occasionly he is assigned a criminal case to help with backlog. About a year ago, he had a case of a teenage boy who lived in a foster home. The boy stole a sandwich from a convienience store, and was caught a half block away while eating the sandwich. During trial, it came out that foster parents kept the refridgerator padlocked. The judge felt that the crime couldn't go unpunished, but was sympethetic to the boy having a ravenous teenage son himself. He sentenced the boy to a token amount of community service hours, ordered his record cleared, and ordered the foster parents to remove the padlock from the fridge. He said it was the best je could do under the circumstances. BTW, the prosecutor wanted jail time, and the judge caught a bit of flak for a sentence under the required minimum.

[Baitball Blogger]

12. If I were a judge, I would take the heat for that kind of adjustment.

The question is, was there follow up to make sure the kid was beaten by the foster parents for bringing attention to their situation?

[HooptieWagon]

14. Yes, I think he also ordered Children's services

to monitor the family and send him reports.

[Baitball Blogger]

16. Cool.

[dsc]

13. and the facilitator of the kidnapping of a child

will get at most 3 years or a mere 6 times as much.

[hfojvt]

15. somewhere, somehow, George Costanza is smiling

[font size=32]TWIIIIIIIIX!!1!! [/font]

[Baitball Blogger]

18. I wonder how many takes that scene took.

[BoWanZi]

17. Devil's advocate here for a minute, it appears the guy was on probation so he did have a record

I wonder if his record was quite a bit deeper than what is alluded to here. Maybe he has a long rap sheet or something. I mean the sentence is quite long for the crime committed but we really don't know if the person is a long time criminal or not.

I can imagine a judge giving a strong sentence to a repeat offender.

He was on probation after all which means this wasn't his first conviction.

[ljm2002]

20. The article says one prior...

...and states that he returned to the store and confessed to the (very, very petty) crime.

Somehow I'm not picturing a hardened criminal here...

[HiPointDem]

25. on probation for one "retail petty theft".

if this is his facebook page, he likes the beatles, john lennon, harry potter & edgar allen poe.

https://www.facebook.com/delvis.rodriguez

what a travesty of justice, while banksters run free stealing from people right & left.

[HiPointDem]

24. "was already on probation for RETAIL PETTY THEFT." He probably stole a hero sandwich last time.

one prior offense = 1 retail PETTY theft.

when i was young the store managers used to call the parents to come in & give a stern lecture when kids stole candy.

[BoWanZi]

35. Retail Petty Theft? Probation? Retail petty theft sounds pretty minor, why probation?.

Retail petty theft sounds like the guy stole a can of tuna. Not really the kind of crime that warrants a sentence resulting in probation.

[HiPointDem]

36. well that's what was reported in the media. take it up with them if you think they're wrong.

the earlier crime was indeed tunafish theft.

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2012/08/homeless_guy_gets_180_days_in.php

the article also says that besides jail time, he got a $500 fine for the big candy bar heist.

[Scuba]

19. For six months he'll provide free labor to some winger's company while taxpayers cover all costs.

[WI_DEM]

21. hate to say it, but maybe he'll be happier in the slammer with a place to sleep

and three square meals. Also it says he was already on 'probation for theft' so this is another incident and that is no doubt why he got the jail time.

[HiPointDem]

26. on probation for one count of retail petty theft. $500,000 bail & 6 months in jail. for a $2 crime

he returned and confessed to.

this is justice?

[sibelian]

38. No, not justice. Probably just survival.

Which really makes it even worse.

[HiPointDem]

23. $500,000 bond. guess they didn't want him to escape.

http://mugshotsocala.com/mug-shot/delvis-rodriguez-ramos/

[whistler162]

30. Well he didn't get 180 days for theft of a $2

candy bar. He got 180 days for the theft AND because he broke probation! Don't let facts get in the way of a diatribe.

[HiPointDem]

37. the earlier crime he was on probation for was stealing tuna fish. "petty retail theft" the charge.

he got $180 days PLUS a $500 fine. bail $500,000.

that'll teach him. and us.

glad the courts are protecting us from such beasts.

[Major Nikon]

39. Wrong

He got 180 days AND a $500 fine AND he might more on top of that for also violating parole for a previous conviction for retail petty theft (most likely for stealing food because he was hungry) all for the theft of a couple of candy bars.

In addition to the jail term, Futch fined him $500 and told him his current six-month probation term could be violated.

Too bad you didn't actually know the facts before your own diatribe, no?

Just sayin'

[Erose999]

31. They were gonna give him only 90 days, but since a Twix is 2 candy bars, they doubled the sentence.

[Javaman]

32. Good thing it wasn't a loaf of bread. nt

[DreamGypsy]

33. Steal a little and they throw you in jail...

Steal a lot and they make you king..

Got to be an important person to be in here, honey
Got to have done some evil deed
Got to have your own harem when you come in the door
Got to play your harp until your lips bleed.
They say that patriotism is the last refuge
To which a scoundrel clings
Steal a little and they throw you in jail
Steal a lot and they make you king
There's only one step down from here, baby
It's called the land of permanent bliss
What's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?

Bob Dylan - Sweetheart Like You:

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