03-18-2008, 05:09 PM
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Man sentenced in theft of pet medications
by Paul Janczewski | The Flint Journal
Tuesday March 11, 2008, 4:44 PM
Quote:
GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN -- A Mundy Township man who stole flea and tick medications from a Flint Township store, allegedly to give to exotic animals he and two co-defendants stole from the Detroit and Saginaw areas, was sentenced to 11 months jail and five years probation.
Joshua D. Roberts, 25, also must pay $7,500 restitution to the Petco store.
Genesee Circuit Judge Joseph J. Farah also placed Roberts on five years probation and ordered him to spend a year in jail for stealing golf clubs and other items April 21 from Seiferts Golf Plus in Mundy Township.
In that case, Farah ordered him to pay $31,800 in restitution, fines and costs.
Roberts earlier pleaded guilty to breaking and entering in both cases.
Roberts, who works for DL Roberts, his father's construction company, will be granted work release, but not until June 1, Farah said.
"He's got a long way to go on this restitution," Farah said.
Police and prosecutors said Roberts and Adam D. Lock, a co-defendant, broke into the Petco store on Oct. 12 and took thousands of dollars worth of flea and tick medicine.
Lock, 24, of Flint, has an April 7 pretrial scheduled before Farah in the break-ins.
No one from Seiferts or Petco were in court Tuesday for the sentencings.
But assistant Genesee County Prosecutor George DeMeo asked Farah to send him to jail "for the amount of havoc they caused."
Farah said the golf club thefts "ruined" the company's business for the summer, according to a report.
"This was a very calculated effort," Farah said of the thefts.
DeMeo said Roberts had been on probation for an earlier conviction.
Sterling Heights attorney Thomas J. Tomko, who represented Roberts, said his client has other cases pending involving the theft of exotic animals, but said he was not the leader.
Roberts apologized, saying he has made mistakes.
Tomko said Roberts is facing a March 17 sentencing in three Wayne County cases involving stolen animals.
Roberts and Julie Lock of Flint Township have agreed to plea deals in those cases.
Roberts, Lock and Lock's husband, Adam, still face extradition to Florida to face charges involving stolen toucans.
Roberts and Julie Lock also face charges in Saginaw County, but Tomko said he is in negotiations with prosecutors there to resolve the case.
Adam Lock's case in Wayne County is ongoing.
The trio were arrested in November after raids on their homes turned up about 70 stolen animals, including a kinkajou, a wallaby, a Brazilian parrot.
Julie Lock is being held without bond in the Wayne County Jail, while her husband is in the Saginaw County Jail.
Prior to their arrest last year, Roberts and Adam Lock had been partners for an animal exhibition group called "Those Animal Guys."
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