Posted on 09/02/2006 9:11:47 PM PDT by beaversmom
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. -- Two men who took fruit and vegetables out of a garbage can have been sentenced to six months in jail, a punishment they say is harsh and the only choice they had to avoid a felony on their records.
Giles Charle, 24, of Sumersworth, N.H., and David Siller, 27, of Wayne, Pa., were on their way to the Rainbow Family's annual gathering when they were arrested in June and charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor theft.
Authorities said they took five cucumbers, four or five apricots, two bundles of asparagus spears and a handful of cherries from a garbage can at Sweet Pea Produce. The two pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespassing Wednesday and the felony charge was dropped.
"We didn't have any intention of committing a crime or doing anything wrong," Charle told the Steamboat Pilot & Today newspaper. "We had just come in town and we were prepared to buy groceries from a store but everything was closed."
Thousands of people were in the Steamboat Springs area at the end of June and early July for the Rainbow Family gathering north of town. At times, the relationship between members of the nomadic group and authorities was tense and a number of citations were issued.
Assistant District Attorney Kerry St. James said the men were facing the felony because they trespassed onto property without permission and took something that did not belong to them. He said the plea bargain was the suspects' decision.
"They had a choice between accepting a deferred felony with 90 days in jail or a misdemeanor conviction with six months in jail," he said. "They agreed to spend the six months in jail."
Don Wirtshafter, an attorney in Ohio who represented many Rainbow Family members over the summer, said Charle and Siller were forced to choose between two evils.
"A suspended sentence would have worked for these boys, but when a prosecutor is really going after you, the best thing you can do is plea," he said. "At best, this case is bizarre."
Charle's mother, Shaune McCarthy Charle, called the jail sentence a joke.
"It's really amazing and unbelievable how taking garbage out of a Dumpster became a felony," she said. "(St. James) is completely incorrigible."
Somehow I don't think they mind Jail so much if they were forced to go dumpster diving for food......
Something doesn't compute here.....
Of course not. I only meant that if I was hungry enough, the thought would probably go through my head that being trash it was up for grabs. I'd almost certainly reject the thought, but I'd have it.
> If it takes six months in the city jail for them to get it through their heads that you don't go on to people's property and take things without permission then I guess it takes six months.
The only place where you and I disagree is you think "it takes six months" to teach them a lesson. I think a tenth of that (2-3 weeks) would be ample lesson on a first offense. Frankly I think a couple days ought to be sufficient if the guys have any sense.
My only -- ONLY -- objection to what happened to these guys is the degree of the sentence. I understand where the city is coming from, dealing with in influx of hippies -- read my earlier posts. The Rainbow Gatherings are a deluge of mostly undesirable people; I wouldn't want them around here either. I say that as someone who grew up in the hippie 60's and has friends who occasionally attend Gatherings. It's a mess of sex, drugs, and lazy bums, most of whom mean well. Peaceful for the most part, but parasites.
Anyway, I think that if they had been a couple of local boys doing exactly the same thing, they wouldn't have been given six months on a first offense. They would have been held for a couple days, and done some community service. So righteousness about the sacred nature of trash doesn't address the question of the thread -- which is whether these guys were treated reasonably. Our opinions may differ.
I'm done; we've all staked out our various moral territories pretty well... ;-)
Next time it should be a year yes.
How hard is it to understand that you don't go on to other people's property and take stuff?
It is grossly excessive for such a trivial, victimless crime.
A respect for property rights is the most basic of civilized behaviors. Without it none of us are secure.
If the judge was concerned about the mess that the hippie group creates, perhaps he could have sentenced these two to a week of cleaning up that mess.
Where did you see that the judge was concerned about anything except for the fact that two men went on to someone else's property and took what did not belong to them?
I think where we differ is merely the question of whether the city was reasonable in dealing with these guys. You are of the opinion that any legal remedy was justified. I am of the opinion that the sentence they got was legal but overkill.
On that, we can agree to disagree. Thanks for taking the time to lay out your argument. It was quite clear, and as I said, we don't disagree on the legal questions (e.g. their guilt) at all.
Here is a story with a little more detail.
Store owner says garbage picking sentences too harsh
The owner thinks that the sentence is too harsh but if you read it it says that they climbed a fence and broke into a locked area to get the stuff.
I think what bothers me is that they have no remorse or even acknowledge that they did anything wrong. How can you not know that breaking into a locked area and taking stuff is wrong?
Missing from this story is how they were caught; were they seen by the police while committing the act or did a witness alert the cops or what?
Sounds more appropriate, but the hippies would never pay the fine.
Now they'll get free food for six months. Cha-CHING!
You're my favorite hippy.
Oooh comunist hippies.
There's probably more to the story than the media is reporting.
There has to be. I can not believe the police have nothing better to do than arrest a couple of dumpster divers.
Don't worry, these are the Wrong Kind of People, so we'll have some Freepers cheering this on...
Can you wait til they actually steal something??
They are hippies. Hippies have no rights.
Only clean-cut conservatives have rights. (/s)
In fact, it bears posting here before it's pulled from the net.
__________________________________________________________
Published: Sep 02, 2006 4:58 PM EST
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - An owner of a produce store says six months in jail is too much for two Rainbow Family members who plucked discarded fruit and vegetables from the trash this summer.
Jonathon Hieb, co-owner of the Sweet Pea Produce, said Saturday he told the prosecutor he didn't want anything to do with the case against Giles Charle, 24, and David Siller, 27, arrested June 26 taking overripe fruit and vegetables from a locked garbage area at his store.
Charle, of Somersworth, N.H., and Siller, of Wayne, Pa., admitted they went over the fence to get to the garbage. They were charged with felony second-degree burglary and misdemeanor theft. But on Wednesday they accepted a deal and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespassing, agreeing to a 6-month sentence at the Routt County Jail to avoid a felony conviction.
The two were on their way to the Rainbow Family of Living Light gathering in northern Routt County, about 30 miles north of Steamboat Springs. The weeklong event drew thousands of campers to a National Forest. Hundreds were cited by federal authorities for gathering without required permits.
Authorities say Charle and Siller took five cucumbers, four or five apricots, two bundles of asparagus spears and a handful of cherries from a garbage can.
"We didn't have any intention of committing a crime or doing anything wrong," Charle told the Steamboat Pilot & Today newspaper. "We had just come in town and we were prepared to buy groceries from a store but everything was closed."
Charle's mother, Shaune McCarthy Charle, told the newspaper she was "absolutely flabbergasted" by the sentence.
Hieb said he told Assistant District Attorney Kerry St. James he didn't want the men prosecuted and thought his input would have carried some weight. He said if they were going to be prosecuted, 10 to 20 hours of community service would have been punishment enough.
Steamboat Springs is about 110 miles northwest of Denver.
They hopped the fence to enter the property, then broke the lock on the dumpster. So they were looking at being sentenced for 2nd degree burglary, not 3rd. No wonder they were so eager to accept any deal offered to them. What amazes me is how they can keep a straight face while swearing they didn't know this was a criminal act.
Remember dirty hippies don't have rights. (/sarc)
This isn't Fascist Republic were only certain people have rights.
I do not like this attitude "If the townspeople don't like you, you can go to jail for nothing" here.
That's right. Felons are the wrong kind of people. They're lucky they only got 6 months in a small town lock-up, instead of a 1-1/2 to 3-year stretch in the penn. That's the sentence Colorado prescribes for the crime they were caught at, the crime cited in the criminal complaint, and the crime they admitted to.
Some of us realize that breaking into a locked business at night and taking things that don't belong to you, is criminal behavior.
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