The day before the attempted robbery in Fallston the DA’s Office dismisses an open and shut felony case of possession of stolen property. Adam Gettys of Polkville, with a court record as long as your arm, had gone to a local convenience store and made purchases with antique silver coins at face value. Another customer soon after made a purchase at the same store. When he paid for his purchase and the clerk opened the cash register, the customer observed the antique coins and recognized them as coins from his deceased wife’s lifelong coin collection that had recently been stolen. The customer purchase his coins back from the convenience store and asked the clerk if she knew who had originally brought the coins to the store. Adam Gettys was identified as the person who brought those coins in the register, and other coins that Gettys wanted to sale to the store, but the clerk, by then, believed them to be stolen and declined to cash in the other coins. The customer took the coins home, examined them more closely and found identifying marks on the coins from the store that his deceased wife had made on her coins that were the same as were on other coins that were in another place in the house and had not been stolen.
The customer called the Sheriff’s Office and a deputy pressed charges against Gettys that, based on the face value of the coins, were determined to be a misdemeanor. This started the same old routine down at the courthouse where the theft victim has to go to court time after time and nothing is done. In this case, the deputy got into some sort of trouble and was fired by the Sheriff. The DA dismissed all the fired deputies cases. The victim complained to the Sheriff and DA’s Offices and a new investigator was assigned. The criminal case against Adam Gettys was re-filed, except this time for a felony because by this time the true value of the coins had been determined.
When the case came up for trial, the store clerk who had accepted the coins and who had positively identified Adam Gettys as the person who had brought the coins to the store was in court ready to testify. The victim who could identify the coins as having come from his deceased wife’s coin collection that had been stolen was in court ready to testify. Guess what? The DA dismissed the charges. Not enough evidence the DA said. How much more evidence do you need? Or could you have? No amount of evidence was apparently enough for the DA. Besides, deciding whether there was enough evidence to convict is the duty of the Judge and Jury, Not the DA. So Adam Gettys walked out the door-ready to steal again. Maybe steal from you and maybe steal from me.
Stealing from me. Oh yes, I have been a victim of a larceny by Wesley Austin. Austin was in jail due to another felony theft from his place of work. While in jail Austin confessed to the midnight larceny of my property at my house. In Court Austin plead guilty and was sentenced to probation and to pay restitution. Wesley Austin decided that going to jail for a very short time was easier than probation and paying me back for the stuff he stole. So, he went to jail and also to prison for a short period of time and is now back on the street. As for me, the justice I got was ZERO. Just about like every other victim described in this article.
