At an Oct. 2 court session, 34th District Court Judge David Judge Parrott was asked by the prosecutor to dismiss a charge of felony larceny, between $1,000 and $20,000 in value, and accept a guilty plea of misdemeanor larceny against Michael Edward Jackson, 53, of Redford.
The plea deal was to offer a 12-month deferral and if he was not charged with any other offense in that time, the charge would be dropped and erased from his record.
The sentence also was to include reimbursement, and that was a problem.
Jackson was working as a temporary bus driver on a shuttle at Metro Airport on May 5. He told Judge Parrott he found a Rolex watch on the seat and took it to a pawnshop. He lost his job, but now has a full-time job at Enterprise, he said. As a shuttle driver he was supposed to turn in anything he found. The pawn shop sold the watch.
The victim stood in the courtroom to tell Judge Parrott that her father gave her the money to buy the watch for her 16th birthday and she paid $15,000. She said she has the gift bag and paperwork from that purchase to prove it.
“I’ve lost sleep … I would have given him $4,000,” she told the judge of her thoughts on a reward, adding that her father gave her the money for the watch because he knew she’d been saving up.
“$1,200? Are you kidding me,” she said of the plea deal’s proposed restitution.
“I’m disposed to have replacement value,” said Judge Parrott. “I’m not concerned about what they sold it for or what he got.” He said the victim deserves replacement value.
Judge Parrott said he could sentence Jackson to a 12-month deferral of the charge, but “restitution is going to be significant.” He said if he can’t pay in the 12 months, it’s going to be tricky.
Judge Parrott also sentenced Jackson to four days on the work program, to take the court’s crime class, and total fines of $845. He advised the victim to stop by the probation department immediately to speak to them about proof of the value of the watch. Restitution must be determined within 60 days, Judge Parrott said.
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1 Comment
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This is infuriating—some wealthy child can’t take care of her things and this poor guy finds the watch that the child clearly doesn’t value enough to keep track of herself but is ready with crocodile tears in front of the judge. Turning it in to lost and found would have been courteous and was obviously required by his job, but I wouldn’t think in a million years that if I lost a $16k watch on a bus at the Airport that I would get it back. Take responsibility child—YOU lost it.